Aboard Air Force One
En Route Tel Aviv, Israel
1:22 P.M. IDT
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Hello. Hi, everybody. Okay. I just have a quick domestic thing that I want to hit with you guys. So, later today, in D.C., there will be a classified briefing in the Senate to talk about the national security stakes for the Bipartisan Innovation Act, and the stakes are very high.
The classified briefing will be held by Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
As Jake said in the briefing room earlier this week, our national security requires a secure and resilient supply chain. We must invest in semiconductor manufacturing in the United States to compete with China, get Javelins to Ukraine, and so much more. There is a pathway for the Bipartisan Innovation Act with strong bipartisan majority. It's now or never, and no one should play politics with our national security.
And with that, I welcome you guys on our trip to the Middle East. And as you see, Jake Sullivan, our National Security Advisor, is here to talk about our first — our first stop into Israel.
Jake, all yours.
MR. SULLIVAN: Thanks, guys. So, a couple of hours from now, we'll land in Israel, and the President is very much looking forward to his first trip to Israel as President. Obviously, this is not his first trip to Israel as Joe Biden; it will, in fact, be the 10th time he has come.
And his strong support and commitment to the state of Israel and to the U.S.-Israel relationship is widely known both in Israel and in the United States. And this trip will be an opportunity for him to reaffirm and reinforce that as President of the United States. He believes that it is important at this critical moment in the world — with the turbulence we are facing; at a period of geopolitical competition; at a time when there are significant challenges that we are confronting from climate and energy, to food, to nuclear proliferation — that we deepen and intensify our engagement and relationship with our closest allies and partners in the world.
That was true in the Indo-Pacific, it's true in Europe, and now it will be true here in Israel with a longstanding partner not just in security but across the full range of the relationship.
The first thing that will happen is an arrival ceremony. He will give remarks where we — he will have the opportunity to lay out, in his own voice, his vision for the U.S.-Israel relationship and his strong and ironclad commitment to Israel's security and Israel's future as a democratic and Jewish state.
He will then have the opportunity to engage in a briefing on both the state of play with Iron Dome, which the U.S. has supported strongly over the years and which the Biden administration, working with Congress, has supported to the tune of $1 billion just in the past year alone.
That briefing also will cover a new laser-enabled missile defense system called Iron Beam, which is in development now and which will involve a partnership between the United States and Israel, just as Iron Dome did, where our two countries working together can take us to the next generation of missile defense technologies that help defeat threats coming from both state and non-state actors.
After the briefing on Iron Dome and Iron Beam, he will go to Yad Vashem and have the opportunity to pay his respects at the Holocaust Memorial. It is something he has done before. But he feels very strongly that, as President, it's important for him to visit Yad Vashem to reflect upon and remember this immense human tragedy of the Holocaust. And he will also have the chance there to meet with Holocaust survivors. That will complete his program for today.
And tomorrow, he will engage in a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Lapid. And they will cover the full range of subjects, from the U.S.-Israel security relationship, to regional issues, to cooperation on science and technology, including new announcements that we will have on engagement on various forms of emerging technology that the Biden administration and the government of Israel will work on together in the years ahead.
He'll do a press conference. And he will also, in the context of that meeting with the Prime Minister, engage with the President of the United Arab Emirates and the Prime Minister of Israel for the first time at the summit level in a new format called "I2U2" — Israel, India, the United States, UAE.
And there will be a significant announcement around food security and agricultural technology, which is an area where all four countries can come together to help deal with an immediate crisis facing the entire world.
He will then have the opportunity to meet with President Herzog, the President of Israel, as well as with former Prime Minister, member of the Knesset, Bibi Netanyahu.
As I said at the podium, the President — the American President traditionally meets with a range of figures across the Israeli government, reflecting that our relationship with Israel is not just about one person, one leader, it is about the state of Israel and about engaging across the political spectrum.
He'll have a reception with other Israeli leaders so that he gets the chance to engage with a number of critical leaders and stakeholders.
And then the President will drop into the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah Games, which brings together Jewish athletes from around the world, including from the United States, where we have a very strong delegation that is going to do very well at these games. And the President is going to get the opportunity to give them a pep talk as — as the games get underway.
So that's the — that's the game plan over the course of the next, oh, 36 hours. A lot — a lot of business to get done. The President is very much looking forward to it.
And then we will have the opportunity to talk about the stops the following day in the West Bank, including an East Jerusalem hospital and with President Abbas, when we next — when we next get together to gaggle.
With that, I'll take your questions.
Q So by meeting with the — both the Israelis and the Palestinian leaders, is he hoping to take some steps toward resuming the peace process?
MR. SULLIVAN: The President will make clear his longstanding commitment and his administration's commitment to a two-state solution, which he believes is the best path to ensure a viable, democratic Jewish State of Israel and a Palestinian state where Palestinians can live in freedom and dignity.
He is also mindful of the challenges that have existed for many years in terms of moving that peace process forward.
He was heartened by the recent steps, including the phone call between Prime Minister Lapid and President Abbas. There has not been contact between an Israeli prime minister and the president of the Palestinian Authority in several years before that call. That is a positive step — engagement between Defense Minister Gantz and Prime Minister — President Abu Mazen as well.
So these are steps he'd like to encourage both sides to build on, but he won't be making formal proposals for the launch of some new peace initiative. What he will do is try to encourage both sides to find a pathway where, step by step, they move closer towards a vision that works for both Israelis and for Palestinians and for the region as a whole.
