Sean Penn to Visit Israel

Hollywood actor Sean Penn, 55, will visit Israel in November as a guest of the Israeli humanitarian Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid (IsraAID) organization.

He will participate in a conference on rebuilding Haiti after the 2010 earthquake in the island nation.

The actor has visited and volunteered in Haiti along with Israeli volunteers several times and once met with former Israeli president Shimon Peres, according to the Israeli newspaper Yediot Acharonot.

Penn, whose late father was Jewish, is critical of American aid to Israel and previously has told Israel media, "I think that the power that the U.S. gave to Israel has made it a powerful country and has thus pushed peace further away."