Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hosted Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Tuesday in the wake of infighting among Democrats over paying for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.
Pelosi (D-Calif.) welcomed Lapid for an early-afternoon photo op on Capitol Hill before he headed down Pennsylvania Avenue to chat with Harris in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House.
Lapid thanked Pelosi for overcoming a left-wing rebellion against foreign aid to Israel, telling her “I know you care about it and had sleepless nights over it.”
Harris told Lapid that their meeting was an occasion to “reaffirm the strength and endurance of the relationship between the US and Israel.”
The Israeli leader is in DC in part for meetings with his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates to discuss cooperation under the Trump administration-brokered Abraham Accords, which resulted in the UAE and Bahrain normalizing relations with Israel.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken will convene “a trilateral setting” with Lapid and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed al Nahyan, the State Department said.
“They will discuss progress made since the signing of the Abraham Accords last year, future opportunities for collaboration, and bilateral issues including regional security and stability,” according to Blinken’s press office.
The Trump administration’s Abraham Accords, pushed by then-first son-in-law Jared Kushner, resulted in Israel gaining recognition from four Arab states. Previously, just Egypt and Jordan had recognized Israel.
Morocco and Sudan followed the UAE and Bahrain in recognizing Israel last year, as did Muslim-majority Kosovo.
The recent struggle in Congress over Israel broke out because a group of progressive Democrats forced a $1 billion US taxpayer contribution to Israel to be stripped from a larger bill, saying they disapproved of Israel’s conduct toward Palestinians.
The aid would replenish Israel’s defensive arsenal after it was depleted in May when radical group Hamas launched more than 4,000 rockets from Gaza into Israel, many indiscriminately lobbed toward civilian areas.
In response to negative coverage, red-faced Democratic Party leaders quickly took up and passed a standalone bill approving $1 billion for the Iron Dome system. The funds passed the House 420-9 last month. Eight left-wing Democrats voted against it, as did Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who said foreign aid would “bankrupt our country.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) appeared to cry on the House floor before voting “present,” breaking with her fellow “Squad” members, who voted against the funds.
President Biden did not meet with Lapid. Biden remained out of public view Tuesday, but hosted a closed-door morning virtual meeting of G20 leaders to discuss the aftermath of the messy US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
