President of the State of Israel, Isaac Herzog, today (Monday, 1 May 2023) hosted the new Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, making his first visit to Israel since taking office. The two met for a private working meeting, followed by a wider diplomatic meeting attended by the President's advisors, Israel’s Ambassador to the US Michael Herzog, and 17 members of Congress who arrived with the Speaker as part of a bipartisan delegation.
During the meeting, the President and Speaker of the House discussed the strong partnership between Israel and the United States, and focused on ways to deepen cooperation between the countries in various fields.
At the beginning of the meeting, President Herzog said: “It is wonderful to see you here at the President's Residence. We attach great importance to your bipartisan visit. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor for us to have you here with us. We see all of you as great friends. We are extremely proud and happy to celebrate 75 years of our country.”
He added, “Today, we are an amazing, thriving country, and our relationship with the United States runs in our DNA, America is a very close ally of ours. We are pleased with full integration in the region as a result of the Abraham Accords, which came after peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt. On the other hand, there is a great enemy threatening us not far from here. Half an hour in any direction from here is an enemy state, and we believe that the alliance with America is of great importance.”
In their discussions, the President went on to elaborate on the Iranian threat, the Abraham Accords, and the ongoing internal debates in Israel on the issue of the proposed judicial reform.
Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy thanked the President for his warm welcome, and said: “Our delegation is a bipartisan group. There's no greater bond than our relationship. There is no other democracy in the Middle East - there are only two countries that were created with the idea, conceived in liberty but dedicated to the idea that everybody's equal. Sometimes you have tough neighbors, but we want to make sure that changes and I think the Abraham Accords was one of the greatest milestones that we could do towards this, and we need to build on that. We're here for the 75th anniversary – we didn't want to miss it – as we look forward to issues going forward. You've developed an amazing country, especially when it comes to technology.”