U.S. house speaker arrives Israel, calls it 'blessed nation'
Rep. Kevin McCarthy will address the Israeli Knesset plenum on Monday; he is the second House Speaker to do so in 25 years
U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy arrived in Israel today, leading a 19-member bipartisan delegation to the Jewish state.
Israeli Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana met the delegation at Ben-Gurion International Airport, thanked McCarthy for the visit and congratulated him on his election to the role of speaker.
“Mr. Chairman, it is a great privilege for me to welcome you to Israel,” Ohana said.
“Thank you for accepting my invitation and choosing the Knesset to be the first parliament in the world to visit. I greatly appreciate the fact that you came at the head of an important bipartisan delegation.”
McCarthy replied, "It is an honor for us to join you in Jerusalem to celebrate Israel's independence. In the next 75 years our important partnership promises to be even stronger than the first 75 years."
The delegates visited the Western Wall and joined Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch in prayer at the Western Wall or Kotel. While there, McCarthy wrote a message in the Kotel guestbook, calling Israel a “blessed nation.”
“Israel, you are a blessed nation and our shared values unite a bond that will never break,” McCarthy wrote.
He also placed a note in the Western Wall and said he looks forward to “Israel’s next 75 years.”
Congressman Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States, at the Western Wall: "Israel is a blessed nation, and due to our shared values, there is an unbreakable bond between Israel and the United States."#thewesternwall #thekotel #israel #USA pic.twitter.com/1z6vBdFmON
— western wall (@westernwall_il) April 30, 2023
McCarthy will address the Knesset plenum on Monday evening, becoming the second House Speaker to do so since Newt Gingrich in 1998. His address to the Knesset is his first address to a foreign legislature since becoming Speaker of the House.
Before the Knesset plenum, the bipartisan delegation will visit the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Memorial Center, where they will participate in a ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance and sign the Yad Vashem guestbook.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
