Pence Puts Off Visit To Israel To Lobby For Tax Plan
Mike Pence in Sydney, Australia. Image by Getty
(JTA) — U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to Israel has been postponed by several days so that he can stay in Washington to promote the Trump administration’s tax reforms in Congress, according to Israel reports.
Pence had been scheduled to arrive in Israel on Sunday to meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials and also was scheduled to speak to the Knesset and light the Hanukkah menorah at the Western Wall, before traveling to Egypt. He will be meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin separately at their offices in Jerusalem during his Israel visit.
Earlier this week Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would not meet with Pence due to President Donald Trump’s announcement of U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Under a revised but not final schedule, according to reports in the Israeli media, Pence will arrive in Israel Wednesday evening from Egypt, and speak at the Knesset on Thursday. His visit also reportedly includes stops at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and the Western Wall.
Since he is no longer meeting with Abbas, the visit to Bethlehem reportedly has been removed from the schedule. Bethlehem has said it would not accept a visit from Pence, Haaretz reported. Pence, who is a devout Christian, reportedly does not have any churches on his schedule during his visit to Israel.
Meanwhile, according to Hadashot news, the custodian in charge of the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, who is Muslim, has refused to officially receive Pence at the church during his visit to Jerusalem, citing Trump’s announcement of recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
