US-Israeli ties make world safer, says House Speaker McCarthy

Jerusalem, May 1 (EFE).- Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu received US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Monday at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.

McCarthy addressed the Israeli parliament at the opening of the Summer session, the first address by a US House Speaker in the Knesset in 25 years and the second in the country’s history.

“This is my very first trip overseas as the US House Speaker,” he told lawmakers at the Knesset.

“And I chose to come to hear today to celebrate the bond between our both countries and to reaffirm the bipartisan support for Israel” the US speaker added.

Earlier Netanyahu and McCarthy met at Jerusalem’s King David Hotel, where the House Speaker told reporters he had chosen Israel for his first trip because “there is no greater ally to America than Israel.”

“The world is better when America and Israel are tighter,” McCarthy added. “The world is safer.”

The US official, who is traveling with a delegation of both Democrats and Republicans, also met with Israeli president Isaac Herzog to discuss new ways to deepen cooperation, Iran’s nuclear program and

Israel’s relations with its neighbors, according to a presidential statement.

McCarthy’s arrival comes at a time of heightened tensions in Israel over a controversial judicial reform Netanyahu’s ultra-conservative coalition government tried to push through triggering historic protests.

Tensions have been running high between Israelis and Palestinians for months, with repeated clashes between both sides in volatile West Bank cities.

McCarthy’s visit follows that of the governor of Florida and potential US presidential candidate, Ron DeSantis, who held meetings with Netanyahu and Herzog last Thursday. EFE

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