WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to meet separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Thursday. 2024 election race upheaval and the administration is still pushing for a ceasefire agreement.
Biden will host Netanyahu in the Oval Office at 1:00 p.m., and the two leaders are scheduled to meet with the families of American hostages held in Gaza at 2:30 p.m. in the White House Cabinet Room.
It will be the first time the two have met in person since Biden visited Israel shortly after the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas.
Harris will speak with Netanyahu in the vice president’s stately office at around 4:30 p.m., a meeting that is considered even more so since he is running for president after Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race. Harris He missed Netanyahu’s speech before a joint session of Congress Wednesday due to a previously scheduled event in Indianapolis. As a rule, the vice president leads joint speeches.
A senior administration official told reporters Wednesday that Biden would discuss “commitment to Israel’s security and the very serious threats from Iran and Iranian proxies and terrorist groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.”
The two leaders are expected to talk “in depth” about the events in Gaza, including efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement and the humanitarian crisis, the official said. The administration believes the deal is “closer to closing and it’s getting to the point where we believe the deal can be closed and it’s time to move to close.”
For his part, Harris said he has been involved in the Israel-Gaza conflict for the past 10 months, including attending every call with Netanyahu, as well as critical meetings such as meetings with hostage families.
In his speech to the Congress, the Prime Minister of Israel thanked Biden “for his tireless efforts on behalf of the hostages and his efforts to the families of the hostages.”
“There will obviously be no daylight between the president and the vice president,” the official said, adding that the Israelis expected a productive day as he would be in the White House for some time on Thursday.
Netanyahu also thanked Biden for his leadership his speech.
“I thank President Biden for his heartfelt support for Israel after the brutal attack on October 7,” Netanyahu said. “He rightly called Hamas ‘manifest evil.’ He sent two aircraft carriers to the Middle East to prevent a wider war and came to Israel to stand with us in our darkest hour – a visit that will never be forgotten.”
“President Biden and I have known each other for over 40 years,” he said. “I want to thank him for half a century of friendship with Israel and for being, as he says, a proud Zionist. In fact, he says he is a proud Irish-American Zionist.”
Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Friday.