Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed for the US Monday, where he is expected to meet with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris before delivering a speech to Congress.

Netanyahu, who has known Biden for decades, acknowledged the president’s decision to drop out of the 2024 race, with the prime minister noting that he is eager to work with Biden’s successor regardless of who it turns out to be.

“This will be an opportunity to thank him for the things he did for Israel in the war and during his long and distinguished career in public service, as senator, vice president, and president,” Netanyahu said of Biden before boarding his flight.

“Regardless of who the American people choose as their next president, Israel remains its most indispensable and strongest ally in the Middle East,” he added.

With Biden’s term coming to an end in January, Netanyahu said the meeting with the president represents a critical moment to lay the groundwork for Israel’s goal of freeing the remaining hostages in Gaza and defeating Hamas.

The prime minister is also expected to meet with Harris, who is now the Democratic Party’s frontrunner tapped by Biden, as well as GOP nominee Donald Trump, but such a meeting has yet to be officially confirmed.

Harris, 59, will not attend Netanyahu’s address to Congress as she is slated to attend an event for the Zeta Phi Beta sorority in Indianapolis. The date for that event was set before the timing of the prime minister’s speech was finalized, according to Politico. 

The vice president intends to discuss the ongoing negotiations on a cease-fire deal and reiterate her commitment to Israel’s security and right to defend itself as well as “convey her view that it is time for the war to end in a way where Israel is secure, all hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can enjoy their right to dignity, freedom, and self-determination,” a Harris aide told the outlet.

The meeting with the top officials will likely take place before Netanyahu addresses Congress on Wednesday, with the embattled prime minister set to focus on the ongoing hostage situation and the conflicts facing the Jewish state in the southern and northern border.

Netanyahu’s address to US lawmakers, his fourth one as prime minister, will also likely be centered around the Biden-back deal being discussed by Hamas and Israeli negotiators that seeks to create an immediate cease-fire in Gaza to help free the hostages.

The prime minister could also make an appeal for the delivery of more US weapons following a public spat with Biden, who froze the delivery of high-payload bombs earlier this year over growing fears that they would be used in Rafah, which was housing the majority of Gaza’s refugee population.

Netanyahu will be accompanied by several hostages who were freed from captivity, as well as the family members of those who remain in Hamas custody.

The most notable guest is Noa Argamani, who became the symbol of the brutality of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack when video of her kidnapping went viral and who was one of the four hostages rescued in a daring daylight raid in Gaza.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) are expected to sit behind Netanyahu as he delivers his speech to lawmakers.

With Harris’ absence, Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray (D-Wash.) was in line to preside over the speech but she declined to do so, her spokesperson told Politico, noting that the Democrat has no plans to attend the event.

Murray is one of a number of Democrats that plan to skip the speech in an apparent protest of Israel’s war against Hamas.