Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump announced plans Tuesday to welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort later this week after years of strife between the duo.
Netanyahu touched down in Washington, DC, on Monday and has a brisk week ahead including meetings with top officials and an address to a joint meeting of Congress Wednesday. He will meet with Trump on Friday.
“Looking forward to welcoming Bibi Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “During my first term, we had Peace and Stability in the Region, even signing the historic Abraham Accords.
Initially, Trump said that the meeting would take place Thursday, but quickly announced that it had switched to Friday due to a scheduling issue.
“Just as I have said in discussions with President Zelensky and other World Leaders in recent weeks, my PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH Agenda will demonstrate to the World that these horrible, deadly Wars, and violent Conflicts must end,” he added, referencing former President Ronald Reagan’s famed defense policy.
Trump, 78, further chided that “Kamala Harris is in no way capable of stopping” the wars raging across the world.
The 45th president previously revealed that he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last Friday. He has previously huddled with other world leaders such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during his post-presidency.
His forthcoming meeting with Netanyahu comes amid previously strained relations between the pair. During most of his presidency, the two courted close ties, but Trump began to sour on him during his last year in office.
“That was going to be a joint [attack] and all of a sudden, we were told that Israel was not doing it,” Trump told Time magazine in an interview published in August. “And I was not happy about that. That was something I never forgot. And it showed me something.”
Trump added in that interview that “Netanyahu rightfully has been criticized for what took place on October.”
On occasion, during public remarks Trump has also swiped at Netanyahu, claiming at a rally last year that he “let us down.”
Trump had also been vexed by Netanyahu’s decision to congratulate President Biden on his victory after the 2020 election.
Netanyahu is ostensibly trying to meet with Trump due to the chances that the former president could retake the White House in November.
The Israeli prime minister, whose popularity is underwater back at home, is also facing discontent among Democrats in the US.
Vice President Kamala Harris, now the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, is planning to skip his address to the joint meeting of Congress and will instead headline an event with the Zeta Phi Beta, a historically black sorority, for their convention in Indianapolis.
As vice president, Harris is the president of the Senate, a role that typically involves presiding over key events that involve the chamber. Harris was at the rostrum for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy’s address to Congress back in December 2022, for example.
Notably, Biden skipped Netanyahu’s address to Congress as vice president in 2015, as well.
Multiple Democratic lawmakers in Congress have decided against attending Netanyahu’s speech, which will be his fourth to Congress, breaking the record that he previously tied with former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
A swarm of protests in Washington, DC, are expected to greet Netanyahu for his hotly anticipated appearance.
Netanyahu’s visit comes as he weighs possible options for pursuing a ceasefire deal with Hamas to end the conflict raging in the Gaza Strip.
The 74-year-old is also rumored to meet with Biden and Harris this week, but further details have not been publicly announced.
