Israeli President Isaac Herzog will travel to Washington next week to meet with his American counterpart, Joe Biden, with whom he will discuss “strategic, security and economic issues,” official sources reported Monday.
Herzog’s visit will begin on October 25 and will last two days.
The meeting with Biden is scheduled for next Wednesday, October 26, in what will be his first visit to the United States as Israeli president.
“President Herzog’s visit follows an invitation from President Biden during his recent visit to Israel in July. The purpose of the visit is to reinforce the strong partnership between the United States and Israel and reflect the deep ties between the two nations in these challenging times.” , said a statement from Herzog’s office.
The text also specified that during the meeting between the two leaders “joint initiatives linked to the climate crisis” will be addressed.
During his trip to Washington, the Israeli president will also meet with US congressmen and members of the Jewish community in that country.
The announcement of this visit comes three months after Biden’s trip to Israel, during which Herzog presented him with the Presidential Medal of Honor “for his true friendship with the State of Israel, the Israeli people and the Jewish people.”
Next week’s trip comes days after a US-brokered maritime border demarcation agreement between Israel and Lebanon and the recent collapse in negotiations to revive the nuclear deal with Iran, which the Jewish state fervently opposes and that has generated harshness with Washington in recent months.
The meeting between the two leaders will take place less than a week before the Israeli general elections on November 1, in which the current prime minister, Yair Lapid, will seek to prevent the return to power of Benjamin Netanyahu.