Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to visit China, his spokesman announced on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister’s Office took pains to emphasize that the visit is not meant to be a message to US President Joe Biden, who has declined to invite Netanyahu to the White House.
The leadership in Beijing invited Netanyahu earlier this year, and the Prime Minister‘s Office says he plans to visit, though a date has not been set.
The prime minister updated the Biden administration a month ago, and he told Members of the US House Armed Services Committee who met with him on Tuesday.
A source with knowledge of the matter said that the plans are “very preliminary,” and that Netanyahu is “making sure to send a message of cooperation and partnership with the US” at the same time.
PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu meets then-US vice-president Joe Biden at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, in 2016. Netanyahu does not care that President Biden is displeased, says the writer. (credit: AMOS BEN GERSHOM/GPO)“Netanyahu clarified to the members of Congress that the security and intelligence cooperation between the US and Israel are at their greatest height of all times and emphasized that the US will always be a vital, irreplaceable ally of Israel,” spokesman Topaz Luk said.
Washington has criticized Jerusalem’s relationship with Beijing in recent years. Both the Trump and Biden administrations have encouraged Israel to keep Chinese companies from building essential infrastructure and investing in technologies that could be security risks.
The plan to visit Beijing comes as US President Joe Biden has yet to invite Netanyahu to the White House, implying in public statements that it is due to the government’s judicial reform policies. There has also been increased tension with Washington of late over the advancing of Israeli homes in Judea and Samaria.
President Isaac Herzog is expected to visit the White House and speak before both houses of Congress next month.
Netanyahu and discussed the Iranian nuclear threat and artificial intelligence with the delegation. He thanked them for their “support for Israel and unequivocal commitment to Israel’s security,” the Prime Minister’s office said.
The members of Congress met with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant a day earlier. Gallant tweeted that they “discussed the viral need to expand security ties between Israel and the IS and the ways to promote military cooperation.”
Gallant “thanked them for their commitment to ensuring the special bond between our countries and promoting critical defense and military cooperation.”
Rep.s Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) and Dough Lamborn (R-CO) led the AIPAC-organized delegation. Other members of Congress in the group were Reps Jim Baird (R-IN), Ami Bera (D-CA), Jake Elizey (R-TX), Jared Golden (D-ME) and Barry Moore (R-AL).
Lamborn tweeted that he “will continue to support a strong working relationship with Israel and never waver from [his] commitment.”
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