US President Joe Biden met with his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog at the White House this afternoon (Tuesday).
This is Herzog's second White House visit since taking office. He is accompanied by US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides and Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Herzog, who is President Herzog's older brother.
The purpose of President Herzog's diplomatic visit is to strengthen the relations and the partnership between the US and Israel, and to reflect the deep ties between the countries which are placed above all controversy between their respective governments. During his visit to Washington DC, President Herzog will also address a special joint session of the US Congress being convened to mark the 75th year of the State of Israel’s independence.
Upon their meeting, Herzog addressed the ongoing controversy in Israel surrounding the government's planned judicial reform. The Israeli president stated that the debate demonstrates the "greatness" of Israeli democracy.
"My heart and soul is also in Israel, in the heated debate, which we are going through as a society. It is a heated debate, but it is also a virtue and a tribute to the greatness of Israeli democracy. Let me reiterate and be crystal clear, Israeli democracy is sound, strong, and resilient. We are going through pains we are going through heated debates, we are going through challenging moments, but I truly believe, and I say this to you, Mr. President, as I have said as head of state to the people of Israel: we shall always seek to find amicable, consensus, and I agree with you on that as well. I am pursuing that even in these very moments through my people as much as we can, in order to find solutions and exit out of this crisis properly," he said.
Herzog thanked Biden for his administration's support for the State of Israel and for America's continued friendship with the Jewish State: "I bring a message of gratitude on behalf of all the people of Israel, the entire nation of Israel, from all sides of the political spectrum, all expressing great friendship, and gratitude to you. As you said, it is almost a jubilee since you entered politics, and you have always stood by the state of Israel, the people of Israel, on so many issues. I was pleased to hear about your conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu, which focused on our ironclad military and security cooperation. Because there are some enemies of ours that sometimes mistake the fact that we may have some differences as impacting our unbreakable bond, and I truly believe that if they would know how much our cooperation has grown in recent years and achieved new heights, they would not think that way."
"I also want to thank you, Mr. President, for pursuing more and more on corporation and integration in the region, for finding and looking for further partners for peace with Israel, and cooperating on so many regional issues together.
"And finally, Mr. President, I know you have mentioned, and we will discuss this as well, the internal Israeli situation. As you know, I am here, and I am happy to be here, because tomorrow I will be speaking in front of a joint session of Congress, especially devoted to celebrating Israel’s 75th year," he said.
"Israeli democracy is sound, strong, and resilient," he added.
Biden praised the friendship between the US and Israel, calling it "unbreakable." He noted his administration's achievements, including brokering the deal to resolve the maritime border dispute between Israel and Lebanon and the opening of Saudi airspace to flights to and from Israel.
"You know my love for Israel is deeperooted and long lasting, and as I have often said, if there wasn’t an Israel, we would have to invent one," Biden said.
"It’s 75 years, 75 years, it is hard to believe, it’s hard to believe I remember about two thirds of those. This is a friendship which I believe is simply unbreakable, unbreakable, and together we are working to bring more integration and stability in the Middle East. There’s a lot of hard work, we’ve got a lot more to do, but there is progress. Last year we convened the largest gathering of Arabs and Israelis in a decade and we resolved the maritime boundary dispute between Israel and Lebanon which people thought could never happen. We opened up airspace for Israel over Saudi Arabia, and Oman after our visit there, and we brought Israelis and Palestinians together on a political level at Sharm [el-sheikh].
"As I affirmed to Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday, America’s commitment to Israel is firm and it is ironclad. And we are committed as well to ensuring that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon. So we have a lot to talk about but again welcome," the US President said.