House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will travel to Israel to address the Knesset later this month, the congressman said on Wednesday.
“It will be one of the highest honors of my life to address the Israeli Knesset at this fateful moment,” Johnson stated. “Our ties run deeper than military partnerships and trade agreements. We’re bound by the same beliefs, the same psalms and the same sacred pursuit of liberty.”
Johnson is scheduled to appear before the lawmakers on June 22.
“Today, the State of Israel and Jewish people around the world face grave threats, and it is our moral imperative to stand by our sister democracy,” Johnson stated. “As terror and vile antisemitic ideology threaten Western civilization, Israel must know that when America said, ‘Never Again,’ we meant it.”
Earlier this week, the House passed two resolutions in response to recent acts of violence against Jewish Americans, most recently when Molotov cocktails were thrown at marchers in Boulder, Colo., who were demanding the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza.
Last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted an invitation from Johnson and other congressional leaders and addressed a joint session of Congress.
Amir Ohana, the Knesset speaker, called Johnson “a great friend of the State of Israel and the Jewish people.”
“From the moment he was elected, he not only expressed his support through words but also took decisive action, even at the risk of his position, to support Israel in its most challenging moments,” Ohana stated. “I hold him in great esteem, believe he is highly deserving of addressing the Knesset, and look forward to hosting him and hearing his words to the nation.”
AIPAC and the Israeli Foreign Ministry were among those who thanked Johnson. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a libertarian who typically opposes all foreign policy legislation, predicted that the trip would come at the cost of getting things done domestically.
