Washington (February 17, 2018): United States President Donald Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next month.
A White House official confirmed that Netanyahu will meet with Trump on March 5, when Netanyahu is in Washington for the annual AIPAC conference. The announcement comes just days after Israeli police said they had sufficient evidence to indict Netanyahu on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in two separate investigations.
Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing and has yet to be indicted, but the police findings have already left the prime minister politically bruised. But a warm embrace from the American president in Washington could help Netanyahu stem some of the bleeding in Israel, where Trump is wildly popular.
Netanyahu’s visit will be his second to the White House since Trump became President. He was one of the first foreign leaders to be invited to the White House after Trump’s inauguration in 2017, a gesture that Trump said at the time “reaffirms our unbreakable bond with our cherished ally, Israel.”
Trump’s relationship with Netanyahu has been among Trump’s closest with any other world leader and predates Trump’s time in office. That relationship has only improved in the wake of Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his order to move the US embassy there — a campaign promise previous presidents have made, but never fulfilled.
The visit will also come on the heels of the first public disagreement between the two leaders after Netanyahu suggested he and the Trump administration had discussed an initiative to annex Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Netanyahu’s comment drew a rare on the record denial from the White House, with White
A second White House official insisted the police recommendations for a Netanyahu indictment will have “no impact on the content or timing of our plan that is currently being drafted.”
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