Benjamin (Bibi) NetanyahuMORE “soon” and that the phone call would be the new president’s first to a leader in the Middle East . “His first call with a leader in the region will be with Prime Minister Netanyahu. It will be soon. I don’t have an exact date for you,” Psaki told reporters at an afternoon briefing. “Israel is, of course, an ally. Israel is a country where we have an important strategic security relationship and our team is fully engaged, not at the head-of-state level quite yet but very soon,” she added. ADVERTISEMENT Biden has held calls with a number of U.S. allies in Europe and Asia, including the leaders of France, Canada, the United Kingdom and South Korea, but not Netanyahu, spurring questions about why Israel had been left out of the group. Psaki said last week that it did not represent an “intentional diss.”