TEL AVIV (JTA) — Joe Biden kicked off his 10th trip to Israel — and first as U.S. president — on Wednesday by declaring that the relationship between the two countries is “bone-deep.”

Biden told Israeli President Isaac Herzog “I am home,” according to Herzog’s office, and he attempted to prove it right away. Speaking at Ben Gurion Airport, Biden recounted his extensive personal history with Israel, including a 1973 meeting with then-prime minister Golda Meir that is a favorite — if sometimes embroidered — anecdote.

“Now as president, I’m proud to say that our relationship with the state of Isr...