President Trump on Tuesday invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the White House next week and become the first foreign leader hosted by the 47th president.
“I would like to formally invite you to the White House next week,” Trump wrote in a letter to the Israeli prime minister released by Netanyahu’s office.
“I look forward to discussing how we can bring peace to Israel and its neighbors, and efforts to counter our shared adversaries,” the president continued. “It will be my honor to host you as my first foreign leader during my second term.”
Netanyahu said that President Trump invited him to visit the White House on Feb. 4. APThe meeting will take place on Feb. 4, according to Netanyahu’s office.
The Israeli leader’s visit comes amid the first phase of a breakthrough cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which Trump’s transition team help broker ahead of the president’s inauguration, and is expected to run until early March.
As part of the first phase of the fragile agreement, the Hamas terror group has agreed to release 33 hostages taken from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Trump, 78, has suggested in recent days that he wants other countries in the region to take in Palestinians displaced from Gaza in an effort to “clean up” the war-ravaged territory.
“I wish he would take some,” Trump said of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi, during a Q&A with reporters aboard Air Force One Monday. “We help them a lot, and I’m sure he can help us.”
The letter didn’t specify a date, and it was not clear how Netanyahu’s office came up with Feb. 4. AFP via Getty Images“I’d like to get them living in an area where they can live without disruption and revolution and violence,” the president said of Palestinians in Gaza.
Over the weekend, Trump also floated resettling Palestinians in Jordan “temporarily or long-term” – a plan that was quickly rejected by Jordan’s foreign minister.
“You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over,’” Trump told reporters on Saturday, arguing that the Gaza Strip is “a real mess” in the aftermath of Israel’s war against terror groups in the region.
Trump’s Saturday comments came on the same day his administration agreed to send a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel that were previously withheld from the Jewish State by former President Joe Biden, over concerns that Israel would use the weapons in densely-populated areas.
Trump teased the upcoming visit in a conversation with reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday. Getty Images
In the ceasefire’s six-week first phase, a total of 33 hostages taken in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that ignited the war should be released. REUTERSNetanyahu’s White House invitation was extended as Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked a Republican effort to advance legislation to sanction the International Criminal Court.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant last spring, accusing the officials of using starvation as a weapon of war.
The US does not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction.
Democrats expressed concern that the GOP bill to sanction the ICC would affect American allies and US companies contracting with The Hague.
“The ICC bill is one I largely support and would like to see become law,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), said ahead of the 54-45 vote on the measure, which needed 60 “yea’s” to move forward.
“However, as much as I oppose the ICC bias against Israel, as much as I want to see that institution drastically reformed and reshaped, the bill before us is poorly drafted and deeply problematic,” Schumer argued.
