US Vice President Mike Pence will travel to the Middle East in December according to a White House announcement on Wednesday. The Veep will visit Israel during the festival of Chanukah, meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other government leaders on a variety of topics headed by the prospects for President Trump’s “ultimate deal,” an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Also on the docket is a review of what the new American policy toward Iran will mean. Vice President Pence will also travel to Ramallah for talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas before leaving for Egypt and meetings with President Abdel Fatteh Al-Sisi in what is being described as an American show of solidarity with Egypt. The US-Egypt relationship has had its ups and downs including the withholding of aid and Egypt’s inclusion on the list of nations facing a reduction in its future aid package. But the VP himself described religious freedom as the centerpiece of the forthcoming trip to Egypt. In a Thursday speech, he stressed that President Trump is sending him to the Middle East to “bring the president’s message to leaders across the region [the message] that now is the time to bring an end to the persecution of Christians and all religious minorities.”