WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden will meet Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the White House on Tuesday when they will discuss Israel’s regional integration and Russia’s military ties with Iran, the White House said on Thursday.
“Biden will stress the importance of our shared democratic values, and discuss ways to advance equal measures of freedom, prosperity, and security for Palestinians and Israelis,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
The visit by Herzog, whose role is largely ceremonial, will mark the 75th anniversary of Israel’s 1948 founding. Herzog has also been invited to address a joint meeting of the US House of Representatives and Senate, a top Washington honor.
His trip follows a period of increased violence in the occupied West Bank, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist government has drawn Biden administration criticism over renewed Jewish settlement construction.
Netanyahu has yet to be received at the White House despite winning an unprecedented sixth term in November.
Biden, during a CNN interview on Sunday, declined to say whether an invitation would be extended to Netanyahu.
“I think (Netanyahu) is trying to ... work through his existing problems in terms of his coalition,” Biden said during the interview, describing Netanyahu’s government as “one of the most extremist members of cabinets that I’ve seen.”
Following Biden’s remarks on Sunday, Israel’s hard-right security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, asked on Twitter: “What exactly about me is extreme?“
Ben-Gvir added: “President Biden needs to realize that we are no longer a star on the American flag.”
Biden to host Israel’s president at White House on Tuesday
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Biden to host Israel’s president at White House on Tuesday
- Meeting will discuss Israel’s regional integration and Russia’s military ties with Iran
Bangladesh’s religio-political party open to unity govt
- Opinion polls suggest that Jamaat-e-Islami will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the first election it has contested in nearly 17 years
DHAKA: A once-banned Bangladeshi religio-political party, poised for its strongest electoral showing in February’s parliamentary vote, is open to joining a unity government and has held talks with several parties, its chief said.
Opinion polls suggest that Jamaat-e-Islami will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the first election it has contested in nearly 17 years as it marks a return to mainstream politics in the predominantly Muslim nation of 175 million.
Jamaat last held power between 2001 and 2006 as a junior coalition partner with the BNP and is open to working with it again.
“We want to see a stable nation for at least five years. If the parties come together, we’ll run the government together,” Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman said in an interview at his office in a residential area in Dhaka, days after the party created a buzz by securing a tie-up with a Gen-Z party.
Rahman said anti-corruption must be a shared agenda for any unity government.
The prime minister will come from the party winning the most seats in the Feb. 12 election, he added. If Jamaat wins the most seats, the party will decide whether he himself would be a candidate, Rahman said.
The party’s resurgence follows the ousting of long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a youth-led uprising in August 2024.
Rahman said Hasina’s continued stay in India after fleeing Dhaka was a concern, as ties between the two countries have hit their lowest point in decades since her downfall.
Asked about Jamaat’s historical closeness to Pakistan, Rahman said: “We maintain relations in a balanced way with all.”
He said any government that includes Jamaat would “not feel comfortable” with President Mohammed Shahabuddin, who was elected unopposed with the Awami League’s backing in 2023.
