US President Joe Biden is reportedly ignoring a phone call request by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

Channel 13 news reported that Bennett had requested a telephone call with Biden some three weeks ago, but had yet to receive an answer.

The report, on Tuesday, said Bennett was eager to talk to Biden amid the resumption of nuclear talks with Iran.

However, the US ignored the request, “apparently over growing frustrations with Israeli settlement construction,” according to the report, cited by The Times of Israel.

Bennett’s office downplayed the incident, saying that the idea of a conversation had been raised in talks with US officials, but no formal request had been submitted to the White House.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan held talks with President Isaac Herzog, his first meeting on a three-day trip to the region.

There was no mention of the tensions or discussions about settlements in a statement from Herzog’s office after the meeting, even though the Israeli president had said earlier Tuesday that he would raise with Sullivan the issue of allowing a Jewish educational institution, so-called yeshiva, to remain at Homesh, the illegal settlement outpost near Al-Khalil (Hebron).

Source: Israeli media