Joe Biden tells Israel it 'cannot continue' pressing for contentious judicial overhaul

US President Joe Biden warned Israel on Tuesday that it "cannot continue" to push for the highly contentious judicial reforms that are currently on hold and have caused months of turmoil and anger among Western friends.

"Like many strong supporters of Israel I'm very concerned.... They cannot continue down this road, and I've sort of made that clear," Biden told reporters during a visit to North Carolina, AFP reported.

"Hopefully the prime minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) will act in a way that he will try to work out some genuine compromise, but that remains to be seen," Biden said, adding he was not considering inviting Netanyahu to the White House, at least not any time soon.

During his return to Washington, Biden reiterated his concern about the situation in Israel, where Netanyahu has come under fire from his rivals for allegedly trampling on Israeli democracy in an effort to increase his own power.

Biden routinely used the word "inflection point" to highlight the threat facing democracies throughout the world. "I don't know that they're at an inflection point but I think that's a difficult spot to be in and they've got to work it out."

He demanded that the contentious judicial law be repealed, telling the reporters that he was hoping that they would walk away from it.