US President Joe Biden will receive Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Thursday for talks focused on confronting Iran's nuclear program and strengthening US support for Israel.

This visit will be an opportunity for both Biden and Bennett to get to know each other more, after the latter took office in June.

"This will be their first face-to-face meeting," a senior Biden administration official told reporters, and would help "get them to know each other."

Bennett, 49, was appointed to succeed Benjamin Netanyahu at the head of an ideologically divided coalition in which his party has only a few seats.

"There is a new government in the United States and a new government in Israel, and I bring with me from Jerusalem a new spirit and a new message from Israel for engagement and communication," Bennett said.

Before setting out on his first trip abroad as prime minister, Bennett told reporters that Joe Biden was "a true old friend of the State of Israel."

For Dan Kurtzer, the former US ambassador to Israel, the prime minister's visit will give a new lease of life to US-Israel relations after Netanyahu's 12-year reign.

Dan Kurtzer told the French press that "Netanyahu was convinced that he knew more than the president he was dealing with what the United States should do."

He added that with Bennett on the other hand, "even if there are disagreements about what policy to follow, and there will be disagreements, the two will be able to talk away from that tone of disrespect."

Bennett had confirmed that Iran would be the main topic of his visit.

Bennett confirmed that Iran would be the main topic of his visit (Reuters)

Negotiations and understandings

Talks are currently taking place in Vienna between Iran and the parties to the agreement on the Iranian nuclear file, with the indirect participation of the United States, aimed at reviving the agreement after former US President Donald Trump withdrew from it and re-imposed sanctions on Iran.

The talks seek to conclude an understanding that would allow the lifting of sanctions, in exchange for Iran's return to fully respecting its commitments, which it began to renege on after the US withdrawal, especially those related to uranium enrichment.

"The prime minister believes that going back to the Iran nuclear deal (...) is a mistake," a senior Israeli official told reporters, adding that the deal did not limit Iran's "regional attacks."

Bennett said he would present a "methodological plan" to Joe Biden on the matter.

Bennett had held talks with US officials in Washington yesterday, Wednesday, in his first foreign visit since taking office, and at the top of the agenda is the Iranian nuclear file.

For his part, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin affirmed the United States' commitment to Israel's security and its "qualitative military edge."

In turn, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken assured the Israeli Prime Minister of the United States' "unwavering" commitment to Israel's security.

Biden's meeting with Bennett gives the latter (European) legitimacy

The two-state solution

On the other hand, Bennett's advisers confirmed that the prime minister had no intention of discussing the resumption of negotiations on the establishment of a Palestinian state on the territories annexed by Israel in 1967.

A senior official told reporters that "the two-state issue is not on the agenda...it doesn't exist."

Joe Biden's government supports a two-state solution and has resumed hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians after Trump scrapped most of it.

In the view of University of Maryland professor of peace and development Shibley Telhami, traveling to Washington to meet with President Biden gives Bennett legitimacy.

Biden's support for the prime minister contrasts with the growing criticism of Israel from progressive Democrats in Congress, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

But the president has rejected calls by many Democratic lawmakers for tougher restrictions on aid to Israel, focusing on other issues such as the pandemic and Afghanistan.