ISRAELI President Reuven Rivlin will visit the White House on June 28 to meet with his US counterpart Joe Biden, the latter’s spokesman said yesterday.

Rivlin, whose term ends July 5, will be the first senior Israeli official to meet with Biden since he took office in January.

In Israel the post of president is largely ceremonial.

Rivlin accepted an invitation in late May when Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel as part of a Middle East tour.

The visit comes a month after more than a week of intense clashes between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. The violence claimed the lives of 260 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

Earlier this month the Israeli Knesset or parliament elected Isaac Herzog, a former leader of the Labour Party, to succeed Rivlin in early July. – AFP, June 20, 2021.