Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met early Thursday afternoon US Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. 

Earlier on Thursday, Netanyahu spoke with US Vice President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the same forum. 

According to a Government Press Office report, the meeting with Biden was friendly and cordial and was held in an excellent atmosphere.

Netanyahu and US Vice President discussed Middle East security and strategic issues as well as energy.

The meetings come at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and Israel over a series of recent critical comments the US has leveled at the Jewish state. 

Earlier this week, US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro accused Israel of applying two different “standards” of law to Jews and Arabs in Judea-Samaria, and asserted the US was “concerned and perplexed by Israel’s strategy on settlements.”

And just last night, State Department spokesman Mark Toner blasted Israel’s plan to declare 1500 dunams (371 acres) of land north of Almog as Israeli state land, saying it called into question the “Israeli government’s commitment to a two-state solution.”