Nov. 12 (UPI) — President Joe Biden and Israeli President Isaac Herzog met at the White House Tuesday afternoon to discuss the war against Hamas and Hezbollah and other Middle East matters.
The Gaza discussion included the humanitarian situation in Gaza, how to end the wars with Hamas and Hezbollah, and address hostilities between Israel and Iran, the Times of Israel reported.
The United States previously gave Israel 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or possibly face a partial embargo on arms shipments. The 30-day deadline expires Wednesday.
Herzog on Monday night referred to President-elect Donald Trump as a “champion of peace and cooperation” for Israel, and he spoke with Trump several days ago about the need to free all remaining hostages held by Hamas, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Herzog also referred to Biden as a “dear friend,” said he admires the president and is grateful for his help and a “lifetime of friendship with Israel” and the Jewish people.
“The president’s steadfast support from the very beginning of the war was a moving display of leadership and kinship that Israel will never forget,” Herzog said.
“I know that you’re working very hard to make sure that this war will end,” Herzog told Biden during the meeting in the Oval Office.
He said while Biden works to end the wars in Gaza and along the Israel-Lebanon border, the security of the Israeli and the people of Lebanon is of the greatest importance.
“But first and foremost, we have to get the hostages back,” Herzog said.
Herzog and Biden previously met in Tel Aviv in October 2023 and at the White House in July 2023.
Officials from the United States, Qatar and Egypt have mediated cease-fire talks that have produced no end to the war in Gaza.
Qatar has represented Hamas in the talks but on Saturday announced it no longer will negotiate on behalf of Hamas.
Herzog also will meet with Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., whom Trump has appointed to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has been a Trump foreign policy adviser.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he anticipates a resumption of efforts by Israel to formally make the West Bank a part of Israel when Trump becomes president.
“We were just a step away from applying sovereignty over the settlements in Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich said during a Religious Zionism party meeting. “And now the time has come to do it.”
Smotrich said the Biden administration interfered in Israeli elections and refused to cooperate with him despite him being Israel’s finance minister.
He doesn’t anticipate similar issues with the incoming Trump administration and said it’s time to punish anti-Semitic governments in the Middle East by taking land in Gaza and the West Bank.
“The new Nazis need to pay a price through land that will be permanently taken from them,” he said Monday.