Jerusalem, 16 February, 2022 (TPS) — ?Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited the Knesset on Wednesday, leading a Congressional delegation. Pelosi and her spouse were received in the front plaza of the Knesset by Knesset Speaker MK Mickey Levy in an official reception, with the anthems of both countries playing.
After signing the Knesset guestbook, House Speaker Pelosi declared that “the security bond between Israel and the United States is ironclad; our friendship is eternal.”
In his statement to the media, Levy told Pelosi that “the State of Israel cherishes your uncompromising battle for its security. You stand by us even in the toughest times, as we saw just recently during Operation Guardian of the Walls in Gaza. Passing the Iron Dome Supplemental Appropriations Act will be forever recorded in your name, and will always remain one of the greatest shows of support by the American people and the US House of Representatives for the State of Israel. The State of Israel could not ask for a better friend.”
Pelosi said she was honored to return to Israel and the Knesset for the first time since January 2020, when she was part of an American delegation that took part in events marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The current delegation, she said, represents the bipartisan, bicameral commitment of Congress to “an unbreakable bond between Israel and the United States, built on mutual security, our economic interests, our common values—our commitment to democracy.”
“I have long said, Mr. Speaker, that the greatest political achievement of the 20th century was the establishment of the State of Israel. I am very proud that America is Israel’s oldest ally,” she stated
Speaker Pelosi stressed the US’ commitment to Israel’s regional security and mentioned in this regard that last September the House “passed additional funding for the Iron Dome” and “we are hoping to get that done very soon in the Senate.”
The US and Israel stand together in the “fight against terrorism posed by Iran both in the region, and also its nuclear development. The nuclear threat of Iran is a global one. It’s a threat to the world. Israel’s proximity to Iran is a concern to all of us,” she noted.
Levy and Pelosi held a joint meeting with MKs Ram Ben Barak, Yorai Lahav Hertzanu, Ruth Wasserman Lande, and Kathrin Shitrit, along with the members of Congress in the delegation: Adam Schiff, Chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; House Ethics Committee Chair Ted Deutch; Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations Chair Barbara Lee; Bill Keating, a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs; Eric Swalwell, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; House Armed Services Committee member Ro Khanna; and House Foreign Affairs Committee member Andy Kim.
The Knesset Speaker and the House Speaker were photographed against the backdrop of the large mosaic on the northern wall of the Chagall State Hall, depicting the Western Wall, the Old City and the Tower of David, with a seven-branched Menorah at its center. This is the first time that an official photograph has been taken in the Knesset with this mosaic serving as a background; the mosaic was created in 1966 by artist Marc Chagall.
Later at the Knesset’s plenum, first graders from the Hofim School at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, who live in localities bordering on the Gaza Strip and who were invited to the Knesset by the Knesset Speaker in honor of the Congressional delegation’s visit, waved Israeli and American flags, as the Members of Knesset and guests applauded in honor of Pelosi’s passing the Iron Dome Supplemental Appropriations Act.
“On this day, I want to thank you on behalf of the children sitting here, on behalf of the residents of southern Israel and on behalf of the citizens of the State of Israel as a whole, for the aid package approved by the House of Representatives under your leadership for the purpose of the State of Israel’s acquisition of Iron Dome interceptors. You chose to support the State of Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism. You chose to stand by the only democracy in the Middle East. You chose to help the State of Israel save the lives of citizens and of every boy and girl who is here in the plenum,” Levi stated.