Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has downplayed his recent disagreement with President Joe Biden over his proposed judicial reforms. In a Sunday `interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Netanyahu spoke about his friendship with Biden, saying that “Friends can have disagreements on occasion, but I share with them the view that we should act.”

“President Biden has been a great friend of Israel. I’ve known him for 40 years,” Netanyahu told NBC’s Meet the Press. “I know his commitment to Israel’s security. Friends can have disagreements on occasion, but I share with them the view that we should act — and not only share the view, I’m actually acting on it to try to reach a broad consensus.”

“I always say America is Israel’s indispensable and, by far, the best ally, “Netanyahu said. “I don’t think you have a better ally in the world than Israel because Israel has become a great technological power and a great asset to the United States. And our cooperation, mutual cooperation, saves a lot of American and Israeli lives.”

Netanyahu’s proposed reform package would give Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, the power to overturn Supreme Court rulings. However, thousands of people have taken to the streets in protest, fearing that the move could weaken Israel’s democracy.

In response to the backlash, Netanyahu has postponed the move until at least the summertime legislative session, saying that he wants to get a balance between the opposing views. He believes the reforms are necessary to rein in judicial overreach, but he doesn’t want the parliament overruling every decision of the Supreme Court.

“I don’t want the parliament overruling automatically every decision of the Supreme Court. So I’ve decided to take time out, try to get a balance between the opposing views,” Netanyahu added.

“There are always these contentious polls,” he said. “We just had a poll three months ago, and it’s called an election. And in fact, what has happened in the last three months is that overwhelmingly, not only the parties that won, but right now the broad base of the Israeli public believes that we have to have these corrections in the judicial system.”

Despite the disagreement, Netanyahu affirmed Israel’s kinship with the U.S., saying that ties are even more robust than they were two decades ago. He also responded to criticisms that his government is “the most radical, extreme conservative government,” pointing out that the speaker of the Knesset is gay and was nominated by him.

Netanyahu also denied allegations that Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency, “advocated for its members to protest the current government,” which was suggested in a recent batch of U.S. national security files that leaked.

“God no … I value American intelligence a little more than that, and I think they probably know the truth,” Netanyahu replied. “The truth is that the Mossad legal adviser said that under Israeli law, junior members of Mossad can participate in demonstrations, not senior members. That’s, I think, what led to this misunderstanding.”

“There is so much misinformation about what is happening in Israel that is fed from Israel’s political opponents,” Netanyahu said. “It’s natural. They’re feeding the political opponents abroad, and so the picture is set.”

Despite the controversy, Netanyahu remains optimistic about Israel’s future as a vibrant democracy. “Israel is a vibrant democracy, has been a vibrant democracy, and will remain a vibrant democracy,” he said. “And you know the one who’s most committed to that is me.”

“How many of your audience know that the speaker of the Knesset, the speaker of our Congress, is gay? How many know that he was nominated by me? And how many know that he was overwhelmingly elected just a few months ago? Nobody knows that because it doesn’t fit the bill,” Netanyahu said, also acknowledging investments in Arab sectors. “There is so much misinformation about what is happening in Israel that is fed from Israel political opponents. It’s natural. They’re feeding the political opponents abroad, and so the picture is set.”

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