From the Liveblog of
Thursday, October 9, 2025
Knesset speaker officially invites Trump to speak at Knesset
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleKnesset Speaker Amir Ohana officially invites US President Donald Trump to speak at the legislative body, following informal offers for the American leader to address Israeli lawmakers during a slated trip to Israel next week.
Ohana’s letter to Trump, which he posts to X, praises the president for helping broker a ceasefire deal in Gaza that includes the release of all 48 hostages held by terror groups there. The deal was announced early this morning.
In the post, he calls Trump “The Peace President.”
“Today is a historic day,” he writes in the letter. “Your leadership, courage, persistence and vision have led not only to a deal securing the release of all Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7, but also to an unprecedented regional agreement accepted by nearly every nation in the Middle East.”
The letter goes on to praise a list of Trump’s other actions on Israel during his first term, from 2017 to 2021, such as moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and brokering the Abraham Accords, a series of normalization deals between Israel and Arab countries.
“The people of Israel regard you as the greatest friend and ally of the Jewish nation in modern history,” the Likud lawmaker writes. “It is therefore my profound honor and privilege to officially invite you to deliver a formal address to the nation before the Knesset.”
It is my profound honor and privilege to officially invite the greatest friend and ally of the Jewish people in modern history, @POTUS @realDonaldTrump, to deliver a formal address to the nation before the Knesset.
Israel awaits The Peace President. pic.twitter.com/gJl2rqSgTj
— Amir Ohana – אמיר אוחנה (@AmirOhana) October 9, 2025
While every US president dating back decades has visited Israel, the last to address the Knesset was former president George W. Bush in 2008. Trump’s vice president during his first term, Mike Pence, addressed the body in 2018. Former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter did so as well.
Trump has said he plans to be in Israel next week to see hostages released. He has expressed openness toward a Knesset speech.
The Times of Israel Community.