President Barack Obama is set to arrive in Israel Wednesday morning. This trip marks Obama’s first official visit to the Jewish state as President of the United States. He last traveled to Israel in 2008 during his first run for the presidency.
The Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., released this video in anticipation of Obama’s visit to Israel.
Below is the itinerary scheduled for Obama’s Israel trip:
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
* Welcoming ceremony at Ben Gurion International Airport
* Presentation of Iron Dome missile defense system.
* Welcoming ceremony and meeting at the President’s Residence
* Meeting, press conference and dinner with the Prime Minister
Thursday, March 21, 2013
* Visit the Shrine of the Book (home of the Dead Sea Scrolls) at the Israel Museum
* Visit exhibition of innovative technology at the Israel Museum
* Visit the Palestinian Authority
* Speech at the International Convention Center.
* State dinner with the president
Friday, March 22, 2013* Wreath-laying ceremony at Herzl’s grave
* Wreath-laying ceremony at Rabin’s grave
* Visit Yad Vashem Museum
* Departure ceremony at Ben Gurion Airport
President Obama has made questionable statements about the state of Israel and has repeatedly snubbed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the past.
In November 2009, Obama suggested that the construction of so-called “settlements” in East Jerusalem is “dangerous.” In May 2011, Obama suggested that Israel return to pre-1967, indefensible borders. In November 2011, President Obama and then-French president Nicholas Sarkozy were caught in a hot mic incident in which Sarkozy called Netanyahu a “liar.” Obama then lamented about having to deal with the Israeli prime minister and said, “You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him even more often than you.”
The confirmation of two new cabinet members to Obama’s administration - Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and CIA Director John Brennan - suggest that the president will embrace more anti-Israel policies in his second term.
Harry Truman: no visit
Dwight Eisenhower: no visit
John Kennedy: no visit
Lyndon Johnson: no visit
Richard Nixon: sixth year of presidency
Gerald Ford: no visit
Jimmy Carter: third year of presidency
Ronald Reagan: no visit
George H.W. Bush: no visit
Bill Clinton: 4 visits—in the second, third, fourth and sixth years of his presidency
George W. Bush: 2 visits—in the eighth year of his presidency
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