US President Joe Biden will open his "democracy summit" on Wednesday, considering it a "turning point" in confronting authoritarian regimes, during which he will announce about $700 million to support "democratic renewal" in the world.

The United States , Costa Rica, the Netherlands, Zambia and South Korea are participating in organizing the second edition of this summit, which comes in the midst of the war in Ukraine, and against the backdrop of fears of the growing power of China.

Democracies are under pressure from the United States to Israel, where a judicial reform project deeply divided the country and sparked mass demonstrations before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally announced his "suspend".

"They cannot continue this path, and I think I have expressed my opinion clearly," Biden said on Tuesday evening, noting that he does not intend "in the near term" to invite the Israeli prime minister to visit the White House.
In an online speech at the summit, Netanyahu said, "Israel and the United States have known differences of opinion from time to time, but I am keen to stress that the alliance between the largest democracy in the world and Israel, a strong, proud and independent democracy in the heart of the Middle East, is firm and unshakable. Nothing can change that."

Biden is expected to announce an investment of $690 million to support "democratic renewal" in the world, largely at the virtual summit, said a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He stressed that this amount should be used to promote fair and free elections, defend human rights and freedom of the press, and fight corruption, explaining that it will be added to the 400 million that were released in the first edition of the summit held under the auspices of President Biden in 2021.

It is expected that a large part of the discussions will also revolve around the threats posed by new technologies, according to what the US official confirmed, referring to spying programs in particular.

The leaders of each of the five host countries will preside over a virtual plenary session during the summit on Wednesday, and the US President's session will focus on "democrats' response to global challenges", to which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was invited.

Thursday, on the second day of the summit, activities will be held in the capitals of each of the host countries.

At least 121 countries were invited to attend the summit, eight more than at the first summit.

The many working sessions, most of which are virtual, bring together civil society officials to discuss challenges to democracy around the world, including in the field of technology, while Westerners accuse the "Tik Tok" application in particular of working as a tool for Beijing.

President Biden fulfilled his campaign pledges regarding this summit, and revived US alliances after the years of Donald Trump's rule, but he disappointed many observers by cozying up to leaders accused of authoritarian abuses and with controversial human rights records. Last year, Biden visited Saudi Arabia and Egypt to participate in the COP27 summit and established working relations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

However, none of these three countries were invited to participate in the summit.

Others not invited include Hungary, led by nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Singapore and Bangladesh.

The US State Department refused to address the criteria that determined whether or not to invite certain countries, speaking of a social, economic and regional distribution. "We are not looking to identify democratic and non-democratic countries," a spokesman said.

India, the world's largest democracy, was invited days after opposition leader Rahul Gandhi was excluded from the Indian Parliament.

Neighboring Pakistan declined the invitation, saying it wanted, according to a spokesperson, to "work bilaterally" with the host countries.

Freedom House, a democracy research group supported by the US government, said that the year 2022 witnessed a decline in democracy around the world, according to its annual report.

South Korea offered to host the third edition of this summit at an unspecified time, according to the US official.