From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
US House Speaker Mike Johnson to address Knesset on June 22
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
US House Speaker Mike Johnson will travel to Israel to address the Knesset on June 22, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana’s office announces.
Johnson will be the third House speaker to address the Knesset, after Newt Gingrich and Kevin McCarthy.
Stressing his close relationship with the Republican lawmaker, Ohana says in a statement that Johnson “is a great friend of the State of Israel and the Jewish people.”
“From the first moment he was elected, he not only expressed his support in words, but also acted, even at the risk of his position, to assist the State of Israel in its most difficult moments. I am full of appreciation… and I look forward to hosting him and hearing his words to the nation,” Ohana says.
“It will be one of the greatest honors of my life to accept Knesset Speaker Ohana’s invitation to address the Knesset at this crucial time,” Ohana’s Hebrew-language statement quotes Johnson as saying.
“Our bonds run deeper than military partnerships and trade agreements. We are connected by the same beliefs, the same Psalms, and the same sacred pursuit of freedom. Today, the State of Israel and the Jewish people around the world face grave threats, and it is our moral duty to stand by our sister democracy. As terrorism and the vile ideology of antisemitism threaten Western civilization, Israel must know that when America said ‘never again,’ we meant it,” Johnson says, according to Ohana’s office.
According to Punchbowl News, Johnson is also expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem during the brief trip.
The Times of Israel Community.