President Herzog Calls President Biden ‘True Friend of Israel’ at White House Meeting

Jerusalem, 27 October, 2022 (TPS) -- President Isaac Herzog of Israel met with President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington as Herzog concluded his state visit to the US. The 2 discussed issues such as the new maritime border agreement between Israel and Lebanon and the ongoing threat posed to world security by Iran,

Calling President Biden a “true friend of Israel,” President Herzog said that the 2 men held an in-depth discussion “as part of the unique relationship, the unbreakable bond, the historic relations between Israel and the United States.”

On the Lebanon deal, Herzog said, “I want to thank you, Mr. President, and the Administration for moving forward and carving the deal between Israel and Lebanon on the maritime border, and we appreciate the effort and of course bringing it to fruition tomorrow.”

President Herzog hopes that this will help to lead Israel to greater cooperation with its neighbors in the future.

“We discussed the integration and inclusion of Israel in the region,” he said, “and the potential of doing so many great things with our neighbors in the various Arab states around us, as reflected in the energies that have followed the Abraham Accords, as well as our dialogue with our Palestinian neighbors.”

The 2 presidents also talked about the ongoing climate crisis and the growing specter of antisemitism.

President Herzog called anti-Semitism a “major issue which we see as the main challenge on various frontiers all over the world. Clearly, as the nation-state of the Jewish People, we care for our brothers and sisters all over the world.”

President Biden commended Israel and Lebanon for their new maritime agreement and said that he had personally been involved in the negotiations when Biden was the Vice President under President Obama.

“I think it’s an extraordinary breakthrough,” said Biden. “It took a lot of courage for you to step up and step into it. It took some real guts, and I think it took principled and persistent diplomacy to get it done and I compliment you and I compliment the government. This agreement is going to allow the development of energy fields for both countries and is going to create new hope and economic opportunities for the people of Lebanon, enhance the stability and security of the people of Israel. As you probably know, I have been working on this since I was Vice President of the United States, and I really compliment you.”

President Biden was also adamant in his re-iteration of the American support for Israel and the special friendship that the 2 nations enjoy.

“I’ve said this 5,000 times in my career, the ironclad commitment the United States has to Israel based on our principles, our ideals, our values,” said President Biden.

“They’re the same values. I have often said, Mr. President, if there were not an Israel, we’d have to invent one. I’ve told you before, my dad was a righteous Christian who used to sit for dinner to have a conversation and incidentally eat, and I remember when I was a teenager, my dad talking about how we should have done so much more. Why didn’t we bomb the railroad tracks in World War Two? So it’s a deep shared concern. And so we have values and interests, and I hope we get to talk about those a little bit today, and I think our interests are pretty consistent around the world and in the region. Thank you for being here.”