Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Mike Pence To Address Knesset During Upcoming Israel Visit

JERUSALEM (JTA) — U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will address the Knesset when he visits Israel next month.

Senior officials in Jerusalem told Israel’s Channel 10 news that Pence had suggested speaking to the Knesset, and that his offer was accepted.

Pence will be the first senior US official to address the Knesset since President George W. Bush in May 2008 to mark Israel’s 60th year of independence.

Pence is scheduled to visit Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Egypt during a mid-December swing through the Middle East, on a trip whose stated goal is to check on the status of Christians in the region. He reportedly will address the Knesset on December 18.

Channel 10 reported that Pence’s speech is expected to deal with the U.S.-Israel relationship and also   Iran’s nuclear program and the threat to the Middle East. It is not expected to discuss President Donald Trump’s peace initiative.

Pence is expected to discuss a potential peace agreement in separate meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. He will meet with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.