House Speaker Mike Johnson to address the Israeli parliament

House Speaker Mike Johnson will travel to Israel and address a special session of the Knesset on Sunday.

Mr. Johnson will be the third House speaker to address Israel’s legislature following Newt Gingrich and Kevin McCarthy, both Republicans.

“It will be one of the highest honors of my life to address the Israeli Knesset at this fateful moment. Our ties run deeper than military partnerships and trade agreements. We’re bound by the same beliefs, the same psalms, and the same sacred pursuit of liberty,” said Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican.

Mr. Johnson’s visit to Israel comes 20 months after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel killed around 1,200 people and sparked a war in Gaza.

Under President Trump, the U.S. has been Israel’s staunchest ally in the war, as other Western nations criticize Israel’s ongoing military assault on Hamas strongholds in Gaza.

Mr. Johnson said this was a pivotal time for the Jewish state and the U.S. alliance with Israel.

“Today, the State of Israel and Jewish people around the world face grave threats, and it is our moral imperative to stand by our sister democracy. As terror and vile antisemitic ideology threaten Western Civilization, Israel must know that when America said, ‘Never Again,’ we meant it,” Mr. Johson said.

Speaker of the Knesset Amir Ohana called Mr. Johnson “a great friend of the State of Israel and the Jewish people.”

“From the moment he was elected, he not only expressed his support through words but also took decisive action, even at the risk of his position, to support Israel in its most challenging moments,” Mr. Ohana said.

He added, “I hold him in great esteem, believe he is highly deserving of addressing the Knesset, and look forward to hosting him and hearing his words to the nation.”

The U.S. has been in negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and Mr. Trump recently expressed confidence that an agreement would be struck.

Mr. Johnson met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington earlier in the year and is expected to meet with him again while in Israel.