WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are expected to meet separately with the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Thursday amid the Change in the 2024 electoral race and while the administration is still pushing for a ceasefire agreement.
Biden will host Netanyahu in the Oval Office at around 1 p.m. ET, and the two leaders are scheduled to meet with families of American hostages being held hostage in Gaza at around 2:30 p.m. in the White House Cabinet Room.
This will be the first time the two have met in person since Biden visited Israel shortly after the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7.
Harris will speak to Netanyahu at around 4:30 pm in the vice president’s ceremonial office, a meeting that is considered even more risky now that she is running for president following Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race. Harris missed Netanyahu’s speech before a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday because of a previously scheduled event in Indianapolis. Typically, the vice president presides over joint speeches.
A senior administration official told reporters Wednesday that Biden will discuss his “iron-clad commitment to the security of Israel, the very serious threats from Iran and Iranian terrorist groups and proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.”
The official said the two leaders were expected to speak “in depth” about developments in Gaza, including efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement and the humanitarian crisis. Management believes a deal “is nearing completion and is getting to a point where we believe a deal can be reached, and it is time to move forward to close that deal,” the official said.
For her part, Harris has been involved in the Israel-Gaza conflict for the past 10 months, the official said, including participating in all calls with Netanyahu as well as critical meetings such as those with families of hostages.
An aide to Harris said the vice president would continue her intensive engagement in Gaza during the meeting, stressing the need for Israel to defend itself and condemning the October 7 attack.
Harris will convey his opinion that it is time for the war to end in a way that keeps Israel safe, frees all hostages, ends the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and allows the Palestinian people to enjoy their right to dignity, freedom and self-determination, said the advisor. They will also discuss efforts to reach an agreement on a ceasefire.
In his speech to Congress, the Prime Minister of Israel thanked Biden “for his tireless efforts on behalf of the hostages and also for his efforts on behalf of the hostage families”.
“Obviously there will be no daylight between the president and the vice president,” the official said, adding that they expect a productive day because the Israelis will be in the White House for a while on Thursday.
Netanyahu also thanked Biden for his leadership in the Your speech.
“I thank President Biden for his sincere support for Israel after the savage October 7 attack,” Netanyahu said. “He rightly called Hamas ‘pure evil.’ He dispatched two aircraft carriers to the Middle East to prevent a wider war and came to Israel to be with us during our darkest hour – a visit that will never be forgotten.”
“President Biden and I have known each other for over 40 years,” he continued. “I want to thank him for half a century of friendship with Israel and for being, as he says, a proud Zionist. Indeed, he says, a proud Irish-American Zionist.”
Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Friday.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
