Netanyahu in the White House: Whatâs on the agenda and whatâs next?
The Israeli PMâs visit to the US comes amid raids in the occupied West Bank, before the October 27 elections. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
The Israeli PMâs visit to the US comes amid raids in the occupied West Bank, before the October 27 elections. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived in Washington, DC, and will visit the White House on Tuesday, with the war on Iran topping the agenda. Netanyahuâs visit is his first for talks with President Donald Trump since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran with strikes on Tehran on February 28. It also comes amid increasing Israeli raids and arrests in the occupied West Bank and three months before elections in Israel. He has visited the White House more times under the Trump administration than under any other US president. Political analysts say Netanyahu is seeking Trumpâs support for re-election. What are the two leaders likely to discuss and what happens next in the US-Israel war on Iran? Hereâs what we know Why are Trump and Netanyahu meeting now? Netanyahu is primarily in the US to attend the funeral ceremony of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who died on July 11. Graham was a close Trump ally in the Senate, both on domestic and international matters, including the war on Iran, as well as a staunch supporter of Israel. His funeral ceremony will take place on Tuesday in Washington, DC, beginning at 2pm (19:00 GMT). Before attending Grahamâs memorial, Netanyahu is also expected to meet Trump at 11am (15:00 GMT) in Washington, DC, where protesters have lined the streets in anticipation of his visit. He is scheduled to fly back to Israel on Wednesday. What are Trump and Netanyahu likely to discuss? A White House official told the Reuters news agency that the two leaders were likely to discuss the war on Iran as well as Israeli strikes and occupation of Lebanon, whose president Trump hosted last week. Israel says it is targeting strongholds of the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, which began firing rockets into its north shortly after the war on Iran began. However, Iran says it will not agree to a peace deal unless Israeli forces withdraw from Lebanon. Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeeraâs Alan Fisher said many people in Israel believe the US should not make a deal with Iran and should instead resume the war. He said some in the US support this view. âNow, Trump has expressed his frustration with Netanyahu and has said several times that he feels the Israeli leader is not seeing the big picture. And sometimes youâre not sure whether both men are on the same page or whether they are diametrically opposed to one another. So it will be interesting to see if we get any readout from either side after that meeting,â he said. Fisher, however, added that the outcome of the meeting between Trump and Netanyahu is currently not expected to be made public.
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