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Trump invites Netanyahu to the White House

The Israeli prime minister is the first foreign leader to receive an invitation since Trump returned to office

MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands after delivering press statements before an official dinner in Jerusalem on May 22, 2017.

President Donald Trump invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House next week, making Netanyahu the first foreign leader to receive such an invitation during Trump’s second term. 

Trump offered a meeting on Feb. 4. A spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy did not say whether Netanyahu had accepted the invitation, and the prime minister told the Tel Aviv District Court on Monday that he has not yet fully recovered from recent prostate surgery. 

In a White House letter to Netanyahu, Trump said he looked forward to discussing “how we can bring peace to Israel and its neighbors, and efforts to counter our shared adversaries.” 

The meeting would take place in the middle of the first phase of the hostage-release and cease-fire deal that Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, helped negotiate. Trump suggested this weekend that Palestinians in Gaza should be relocated to other Arab nations, an idea that Egypt and Jordan — as well as the Palestinian Authority — have rejected. 

Witkoff is traveling to Saudi Arabia and Israel this week to promote normalization between the two countries. A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Yechiel Leiter, the new Israeli ambassador to the United States, told The Jerusalem Post this week that Israel is “closer than ever” to normalizing ties with Saudi Arabia.

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