President Donald Trump will meet Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — the first foreign leader to meet with him since he started his second term.
Speaking with reporters Sunday, Trump previewed the discussion at the White House as a "very big meeting." In his letter inviting Netanyahu to Washington last week, he wrote, “I look forward to discussing how we can bring peace to Israel and its neighbors, and efforts to counter our shared adversaries.”
Netanyahu said Sunday that they will discuss "the critical issues that lie ahead of us — defeating Hamas, returning all our hostages and dealing with the Iranian axis in all its components, an axis that also threatens Israel’s security, the Middle East and the entire world."
Trump's transition team helped the Biden administration secure a ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Israel and the militant group Hamas. The next phase of the agreement is expected to be one of the topics the two leaders discuss Tuesday.
The conflict began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage. Israel retaliated with an air and land assault on Gaza, killing more than 47,000 people, most of them civilians, according to local officials. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced.
The scale of Israeli counteroffensive has led to international condemnation, but Netanyahu has defended his actions, most recently en route to Washington.
"The decisions we have made during the war, combined with the heroism of the IDF soldiers, they have already changed the face of the Middle East. They have changed it beyond recognition. I think that by working hard with President Trump, we can change it even more, for the better," Netanyahu said.
Trump had said he wants Jordan and Egypt to accept more Palestinian refugees as part of an effort to “clean out” Gaza.
Netanyahu and Trump were close allies during Trump's first term in office, but their relationship became strained after Netanyahu congratulated Joe Biden on winning the 2020 election while Trump was still challenging the results.
Just days after the Oct. 7 attack, Trump told a crowd at a campaign rally that Netanyahu had “let us down” during his first administration, arguing that he had been unhelpful before the United States killed a top Iranian general. That led to criticism from his Republican rivals, and Trump later posted on social media, “#IStandWithIsrael” and “#IStandWithBibi,” using Netanyahu's nickname.
Their relationship appeared mended in July when Netanyahu visited Trump at his Florida residence after having met with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and after a failed attempt on Trump's life.
Netanyahu said Sunday the "fact that this will be [Trump's] first meeting with a foreign leader since his inauguration has great significance for the state of Israel" and "testifies to the strength of the alliance between Israel and the United States."
The trip is far from Netanyahu's first trip to the White House.
When he was welcomed Monday at Blair House, the historic official guest residence of the White House, its director said it was Netanyahu's 14th visit to the residence — many more than any other foreign leader has made since it was built in the 19th century.
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