US Vice President Mike Pence. Photo: Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – The White House on Wednesday announced that Vice President Mike Pence will visit Israel and Egypt in December amid renewed US-led peace efforts in the region.

Pence is slated to arrive in Israel during Hanukkah, and will meet separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas before traveling to Egypt.

While in Israel, the vice president will focus on assessing progress in regional peace talks. He is also expected to address US policy on Iran and to discuss Israel’s space program.

In Egypt, Pence will meet with the country’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and discuss cooperation on regional security issues.

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Pence will also meet with other government officials and religious leaders in Egypt for discussions on the persecution of Christians and other minority populations in the Middle East.

“President Trump has directed me to go to the Middle East in late December and I promise you, one of the messages that I will bring on the president’s behalf to leaders across the region is that now is the time to bring an end to the persecution of Christians and all religious minorities,” Pence said Wednesday.

President Donald Trump visited Israel in May as part of his first foreign trip as commander-in-chief.