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Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Herzog said set to meet Biden, address Congress in mid-July; sides do not confirm
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Several Hebrew media outlets say President Isaac Herzog has been invited by US President Joe Biden to visit the White House and speak to Congress on the third week of July, probably July 19.
Herzog’s office tells The Times of Israel the president was invited in November and that the sides are still working on a date.
A White House National Security Council spokesperson similarly says: “We have nothing to announce.”
No date has been set, but the reports say one will be announced within days.
In a video address at the Israeli Embassy in Washington’s Independence Day party last week, Herzog said: “I’m looking forward to visiting the United States of America in the near future, to addressing a joint meeting of Congress, visiting my good friends at the White House, and meeting so many other good friends.”
The invitation to address a joint session of Congress was extended to Herzog when he was in Washington last October, when he also met with US President Joe Biden in the White House.
This will therefore be Herzog’s second visit to the White House in less than a year.
A similar invitation from the White House has not yet been extended to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In March, Biden castigated the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul plan and said Netanyahu would not be getting a White House invite in the near future.
The Times of Israel Community.