Trump invites Netanyahu to White House on Feb. 4

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on February 4, Netanyahu’s office has announced. It also underlined that Netanyahu will be the first foreign leader who will come to the White House in the second term of Trump.

An invitation had been extended, one White House official said, adding that the timing of a meeting would be determined soon.

This high-profile meeting comes on the heels of Trump claiming he had brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, after months of failed negotiations. Once that ceasefire was implemented, Trump mentioned an idea of relocating the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip into neighboring countries such as Egypt and Jordan-a concept which has met fierce resistance by those countries, among several European governments.

Through Trump’s first term, he time and again vowed that Israel “has never had a better friend in the White House,” while Netanyahu often delivered similar messages back. But things cooled between their friendship when Netanyahu congratulated President Joe Biden upon his 2020 presidential win. At the time, according to multiple reports, Trump privately-though wrongly-believing the election was stolen-accused Netanyahu of being disloyal.

That is despite it because Trump resumed most of the lost ties with Israel within a day of commencing his second-term presidency. Reportedly, Trump signed a dispatch of 2,000 pound bombs to Israel, reversing yet another move-which the then Biden administration halted. In this regard, Netanyhahu thanked Trump through a statement wherein he hailed how Trump “Equipped Israel “with the power to protect.”.