President Trump will welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House on March 5, marking the second time Trump will have hosted Netanyahu in Washington.
“The president has a great relationship with the prime minister and looks forward to meeting with him,” a White House official said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner.
Trump and Netanyahu last spoke in person at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month. During their bilateral meeting, Trump threatened to withhold U.S. aid to Palestinians unless they returned to the negotiating table in pursuit of a peace deal with Israel.
Netanyahu was among the first world leaders who visited Trump at the White House after Inauguration Day. After the Israeli prime minister met with Trump in the West Wing in February of last year, Trump said his administration was not committed to the two-state solution his predecessor sought, instead arguing Israelis and Palestinians should set the parameters of a peace deal themselves.
Trump’s recognition in December of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel drew condemnation from Palestinians but earned widespread praise from Israeli leaders and their supporters in the U.S. The president announced plans to move the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in fulfillment of a campaign promise.
In May, Trump included a visit to Israel on the itinerary of his first foreign trip as president. After traveling first to Saudi Arabia, Trump stopped in Israel and became the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Western Wall, a holy site in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu’s visit to Washington will come as he battles a corruption scandal back home in Israel.
Israeli authorities say they believe investigators have gathered enough evidence to indict the prime minister on corruption charges, which Netanyahu has denied.
