(Reuters) -U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson will travel to Israel to address the parliament on June 22, he said on Wednesday.
“Our ties run deeper than military partnerships and trade agreements,” Johnson said in an emailed statement.
Punchbowl News, which first reported Johnson’s plan, said the House Speaker was expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem during the trip.
Johnson did not provide further details on the planned trip.
Johnson announced the visit as Israel presses on with its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, more than 20 months after it launched its offensive there in response to a deadly incursion into Israel led by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
On Tuesday, Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Norway imposed sanctions on far-right Israeli cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, accusing them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Israel called the action “outrageous” and said the Israeli government would hold a meeting early next week to decide how to respond.
(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Aidan Lewis)
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