Bennett expected to meet Biden at White House in coming weeks

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is expected to meet with US President Joe Biden at the White House in July or August, Bennett’s spokesman said on Monday.

The White House and the Prime Minister’s Office have been in talks to set a date for Bennett’s visit, likely to be his first trip abroad since becoming prime minister two weeks ago.

Biden “looks forward to hosting Prime Minister Bennett soon,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in Monday’s briefing. “We’re working on a date.”

The planned visit, so early in Bennett’s term, indicates the Biden administration’s embrace of the new government, made up of parties that span much of the Israeli political spectrum.

The trip is unlikely to take place before July 18, while Congress is in recess.

President Reuven Rivlin landed in Washington on Monday and was expected to meet with Biden in the White House after press time. Rivlin also plans to meet with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Bennett views Rivlin’s trip as a sort of test of how he and his views will be accepted in Washington. Both he and Rivlin oppose a two-state solution but are in favor of humanitarian gestures toward the Palestinians and are right-wingers, but they support working with a diverse coalition, a source close to the prime minister said.

Bennett views the Biden administration’s persistence in bringing Rivlin to Washington in his last days in office as a good sign, being that President-elect Isaac Herzog’s views, especially on a two-state solution, are more in line with Biden’s.

Rivlin is expected to convey to Biden that Israel seeks to be part of the conversation as the US and Iran indirectly negotiate their return to the 2015 nuclear deal, specifically on issues of