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.
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.