Speaker Johnson, Netanyahu exchange gifts during Capitol visit

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exchanged gifts during the longtime Israeli leader’s visit to Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

Netanyahu came to Washington to deliver an address to a joint meeting of Congress — his fourth since 1996 — a controversial speech that divided Democrats and inflamed political tensions, despite the prime minister’s call for unity behind Israel amid its war against Hamas.

But before his roughly 50 minutes of remarks, the two traded gifts, a customary tradition when foreign leaders visit D.C.

Johnson gave Netanyahu a collection of documents and letters from the National Archives that the prime minister has never seen, the Speaker’s office told The Hill. That bundle included a letter from Netanyahu’s father — Benzion Netanyahu, a historian who worked to drum up support for the creation of the Jewish state in the U.S. — to former President Dwight Eisenhower.

Johnson also presented the prime minister with a condolence letter the White House prepared but never sent after one of Netanyahu’s brothers passed away, and the notecards former President Gerald Ford used and wrote on when he received an award honoring Netanyahu’s brother, Yonatan Netanyahu, who was a commander of the Sayeret Matkal, one of Israel’s commando units.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, gifted Johnson a sculpture of a dove flying over Israel made of shrapnel gathered from the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, the Speaker’s office said.

Netanyahu’s speech before Congress — which ran for roughly 50 minutes — sparked controversy in the Capitol, with Republicans and staunchly pro-Israel Democrats lauding the remarks, and pro-Palestinian liberals decrying the controversial leader’s remarks.

The fractures are emblematic of the tensions in Washington over the war in Gaza, which began after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

Netanyahu’s address discussed the details of the deadly offensive, while also criticizing the anti-Israel protests that have broken out throughout the country, issuing warnings about the threat posed by Iran, and urging unity in the U.S. behind Israel.

Netanyahu on Wednesday thanked Johnson and other congressional leaders for inviting him to speak before Congress, underscoring the importance of the U.S.-Israel friendship.

“Almost 2,000 years ago, the Romans breached the walls of Jerusalem, on this day, almost 2,000 years ago. Well, our enemies will not breach our walls today,” Netanyahu, alongside Johnson, told reporters ahead of his speech. “And our wall is not made up only of our own soldiers, our brave heroes, but also the friendship and alliance with the great United States of America.”

“That is very much expressed here today, and I thank you for giving me this opportunity, and the people of Israel thank you for giving us this opportunity to express our common alliance,” he added.

Johnson echoed that sentiment, saying that “Americans must stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel in its great struggle.”