The speaker of the House of Commons is visiting Israel and the Knesset in an historic first.

Conservative MP John Bercow visited the Knesset on Monday and attended a series of meetings and panel discussions on Tuesday. He is the first serving speaker of the House of Commons to ever visit Israel and its parliament.

“Your visit has special and historical value,” the speaker of the Knesset, Yuli Edelstein, told Bercow.

“Cooperation between the UK and Israel are expressed in a variety of fields, including new technologies, science, education and the fight against terrorism. I hope that we continue to strengthen relations between the parliaments,” Edelstein added.

Among the events Bercow is attended on Tuesday was a gathering of the Young Knesset, during which Israeli students conducted deliberations in the Knesset committees and plenum. He addressed the students on the workings of the British parliament and the powers that his office holds.

On Monday, Bercow and his entourage attended a panel discussion to familiarize themselves with the parliamentary system in Israel. That meeting was also attended by a number of Knesset members.

Later on, he held a meeting with leader of the opposition Isaac Herzog and attended a meeting on promoting legislation to integrate workers with disabilities. He also visited Yad Vashem and laid a wreath in memory of Holocaust victims.

The British speaker told Edelstein that he had visited Israel in 1975, as a gift to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah. He talked about having visited to Yad Vashem, noting that “it was a jarring experience to see the images and hear the sounds. The Holocaust must not be forgotten and cannot be repeated.”

Bercow, a member of the Conservative Party, has served as speaker of the British Parliament since 2009. He was born into a Jewish family in north London and is the first Jewish speaker of the parliament in British history.

(via BICOM)

[Photo: BICOM]