News: Speaker Mike Johnson will travel to Israel to address the Israeli parliament on June 22.
The Knesset will convene on a Sunday – a rarity – to hear from Johnson.
Johnson has been the speaker since October 2023 and has not taken many major international trips. He attended a G7 head of parliament conference in Italy last fall.
Johnson is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem during the brief trip.
The Louisiana Republican will become the third speaker in U.S. history to address the Knesset. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy spoke before the chamber in May 2023 amid a debt-limit standoff with former President Joe Biden. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich spoke to the Knesset in 1998.
Johnson’s speakership has been intertwined with a pivotal chapter in Israel’s history. Johnson became speaker just weeks after the Oct. 7 attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza. Johnson was criticized early in his speakership for trying – and failing – to pair U.S. aid to Israel with IRS spending cuts.
Yet Johnson has been a staunch ally of Netanyahu and his government in Jerusalem. The Johnson-led House approved aid to Israel in April 2024. And when Biden put a hold on weapons sales to Israel amidst a wave of Palestinian civilian casualties, the speaker pressed the White House to back off.
The speaker’s visit comes at a perilous time for Netanyahu. The Knesset is set to vote today on a measure that could dissolve Netanyahu’s fragile governing coalition.
Furthermore, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement condemning England, Canada, Norway, New Zealand and Australia for sanctioning Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, two of the far-right members of Netanyahu’s government. The five U.S. allies blame the pair for “inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.”
