From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Lapid welcomes ‘good friend and great Zionist’ Biden to Israel on 10th visit
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleLazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Prime Minister Yair Lapid welcomes US President Joe Biden to Israel at Ben Gurion Airport, calling him “a great Zionist and one of the best friends Israel has ever known.”
Standing on a custom-made stage on the tarmac, Lapid says the trip is “both a historic visit, and a deeply personal one.”
“It is historic because it expresses the unbreakable bond between our two countries,” Lapid continues. “Our commitment to shared values: democracy, freedom, and the right of the Jewish people to a state of their own.”
Lapid says that the visit, Biden’s first as president and 10th as a politician, is personal “because your relationship with Israel has always been personal.”
The prime minister stresses that Israel has changed in the six years since Biden’s last visit, pointing at the country’s high-tech sector, agricultural innovation and groundbreaking research universities.
Turning to national security, Lapid says that the two leaders will “discuss building a new security and economy architecture with the nations of the Middle East, following the Abraham Accords and the achievements of the Negev Summit.”
They will also discuss “the need to renew a strong global coalition that will stop the Iranian nuclear program,” Lapid says.
“Right now, we are simply happy to see you, Mr. President,” he concludes. “The simple, genuine joy brought by seeing a good friend once again.”
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