WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden will meet Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the White House on Tuesday when they will discuss Israel’s regional integration and Russia’s military ties with Iran, the White House said on Thursday.
“Biden will stress the importance of our shared democratic values, and discuss ways to advance equal measures of freedom, prosperity, and security for Palestinians and Israelis,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
The visit by Herzog, whose role is largely ceremonial, will mark the 75th anniversary of Israel’s 1948 founding. Herzog has also been invited to address a joint meeting of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, a top Washington honor.
His trip follows a period of increased violence in the occupied West Bank, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist government has drawn Biden administration criticism over renewed Jewish settlement construction.
Netanyahu has yet to be received at the White House despite winning an unprecedented sixth term in November.
Biden, during a CNN interview on Sunday, declined to say whether an invitation would be extended to Netanyahu.
“I think (Netanyahu) is trying to … work through his existing problems in terms of his coalition,” Biden said during the interview, describing Netanyahu’s government as “one of the most extremist members of cabinets that I’ve seen.”
Following Biden’s remarks on Sunday, Israel’s hard-right security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, asked on Twitter: “What exactly about me is extreme?”
Ben-Gvir added: “President Biden needs to realize that we are no longer a star on the American flag.”
(Reporting by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Howard Goller)
