WASHINGTON — Israeli President Isaac Herzog will visit the White House on Tuesday and deliver a joint address to Congress during his two-day trip to the nation's capital, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a news release.
"The two leaders will discuss opportunities to deepen Israel’s regional integration and to create a more peaceful and prosperous Middle East," Jean-Pierre's statement said. "President 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."
Biden and Herzog will also discuss Russia's "deepening" military relationship with Iran and Iran's "destabilizing behavior in the region," she said.
The meeting will also emphasize Israel's "enduring partnership and friendship" with the U.S., and Biden will "reaffirm the ironclad commitment of the United States to Israel’s security," Jean-Pierre said.
Herzog will meet with Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday. He will be the third foreign leader to have delivered a joint address to Congress this year. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered an address in June, and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol did the same in April.
Biden met with Herzog at the White House in October, when he emphasized the U.S.' "ironclad" commitment to Israel.
Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is not joining Herzog for the visit. In an interview that aired Sunday on CNN, Biden was asked when Netanyahu would be invited to the White House. He said Herzog would be coming and that "we have other contacts."
"Bibi, I think, is trying to work through how he can work through his existing problems in terms of his coalition," Biden said in the interview, using Netanyahu's nickname.
While the White House supports a two-state solution for the Israelis and the Palestinians, that option appears unlikely under the far-right Israeli government.
Israel’s military raided the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank this month in the biggest incursion in 20 years. The military said the operation was meant to target militants. At least 10 Palestinians were killed.
In June, the Israeli government approved the construction of thousands of new homes in the West Bank. The U.S. asked Israel's ambassador in the U.S. this year to come to the State Department, which had protested a new Israeli law that would allow expanded construction of settlements in the West Bank.
Beyond settlements in the West Bank, a two-state solution is further complicated by the geographic separation between Gaza and the West Bank and leaders' varying control in those areas, including Hamas in Gaza and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.
Israel's government has also recently faced countrywide demonstrations against a planned judicial overhaul that would limit the Supreme Court's oversight.
