Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Wednesday morning!
Quote of the day — “We’re very happy that Jerusalem is joining the team,” said Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief.
Goldberg was commenting on the hiring of Jerusalem Demsas as a new staff writer at the magazine.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) visited the Knesset in Jerusalem today, where she and a delegation of House members were greeted with an official ceremony.
Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy told Pelosi after the ceremony that the State of Israel “recognizes and values your uncompromising efforts to ensure its security.”
“For many years, you have defended our right to protect our citizens, and you have stood by us even in the most difficult of times, as we saw just recently during the last operation in Gaza,” Levy said. “The passage of the law to fund the replenishment of the Iron Dome system will forever be associated with you, and always as one of the greatest displays of support by the American people and by the United States House of Representatives for the State of Israel.” Referring to “winds of war blowing in Eastern Europe,” Levy said he hoped the U.S. and its European partners would succeed in deescalating the situation via diplomatic means. Levy is planning to visit Congress at the end of next month.
The delegation met with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Minister of Immigration and Absorption Pnina Tamano-Shata, Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog, Knesset member Ruth Wasserman and Director of the Policy and Political-Military Bureau Zohar Palti.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Minister of Transport and Road Safety Merav Michaeli also held individual meetings with the delegation, and President Isaac Herzog was scheduled to hold a diplomatic working meeting with the group, alongside Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides.
The delegation will also travel to Germany and the United Kingdom. “As threats to democracy grow more alarming and urgent, American leadership remains committed to advancing security and stability, economic prosperity and democratic governance around the world,” Pelosi said ahead of the trip.
Also in Israel this week, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has held a flurry of meetings with Israel’s top brass and other officials in Jerusalem, including President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Lapid, Gantz, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Orit Farkash Hacohen, Likud Knesset member Nir Barkat and Deputy Director General for Strategic Affairs Joshua Zarka, as well as Nides.
Bennett met with the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, at his private palace yesterday. “I consider it a historical day, to receive the prime minister of Israel,” said Al Khalifa. Bennett’s visit marked the first for an Israeli premier in the Gulf nation. “Your Majesty, it has been a huge honor to visit your wonderful Kingdom of Bahrain, and I admire your courage and your determination to build your country,” Bennett said. “I think we discussed many ways to build new bridges, and an architecture for a stronger and more stable region. And I’m looking forward to continuing this remarkable relationship.”
on the hill
Seventeen lawmakers write to Biden urging reinstatement of Houthi terrorist designation

A joint Saudi-backed Sudanese-Yemeni military experts force removes and deactivates some 5,000 landmines on January 30, 2021, which they said were planted by the Iran-aligned Huthi rebels in Yemen’s northern coastal town of Midi.
In a letter addressed to President Joe Biden and obtained by Jewish Insider, a bipartisan group of 17 members of Congress urged the White House to redesignate the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The members also argued that withdrawing the Houthis’ prior FTO designation “has done little” to improve the humanitarian situation in Yemen and only fueled further violence from the Iran-backed group, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Background: The letter, dated Feb. 8, was sent amid heightened concerns over escalating Houthi attacks on the United Arab Emirates and U.S. forces in the Gulf. The Biden administration removed the Houthis, a Yemeni militia group, from the FTO list in February 2021, with an eye toward ensuring humanitarian aid continued to flow into Yemen. Following a series of attacks against targets in the UAE, the Biden administration has publicly and privately mulled reversing course.
No dice: The lawmakers, led by Reps. Mike Waltz (R-FL) and Seth Moulton (D-MA) emphasized that there had been a significant uptick in attacks on U.S. partners and forces in Gulf states since the U.S. withdrew the FTO designation and that humanitarian aims had been unsuccessful. “I understand that removing the designation was meant to help the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen, but it has done little outside of embolden the Houthis to escalate their attacks and block reconciliation efforts in the country,” the letter reads.
Partnering up: “The U.S. relies on our relationship with the UAE to promote regional security and address pressing global challenges,” the lawmakers continued. “This is a critical time to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with an important ally while they are under assault, reiterating our commitment to the US-UAE strategic partnership.”
Sign here: Other signatories include House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Don Bacon (R-NE), Scott Franklin (R-FL), Ann Wagner (R-MO), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Peter Meijer (R-MI), Scott DesJarlais (R-TN), Pat Fallon (R-TX), Liz Cheney (R-WY), Young Kim (R-CA), Carol Miller (R-WV), Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), Donald Norcross (D-NJ) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ).