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(JNS) “Welcome, Mr. Prime Minister,” Kamala Harris, the U.S. vice president and presumptive Democratic nominee in November, told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as she shook his hand in her ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, part of the White House complex.
“I look forward to our conversation,” she added, standing in front of two U.S. and two Israeli flags. “We have a lot to talk about.”
The press appeared to be ushered out of the room as reporters shouted questions at the two leaders. It wasn’t immediately clear from a video feed what Netanyahu responded to Harris before the two, and their respective staff members, sat at a table.
Netanyahu’s office later said that the meeting lasted 40 minutes.
Harris skipped Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday afternoon, over which she would have presided as head of the Senate. The vice president’s staff said she had a prior engagement—which turned out to be a meeting with a sorority—while critics say she rebuffed the prime minister.
“Kamala’s appearance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—after she snubbed his address to Congress—lasted a grand total of 14 seconds before the press was kicked out of the room,” wrote an account managed by the Republican National Committee.
