The Prime Minister's Office announced today (Tuesday) that President Donald Trump has invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a formal meeting in the White House on February 4, making Netanyahu the first foreign leader to receive such an invitation.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly released friendly video messages to Trump, congratulating him on his victory and inauguration as President, as well as giving thanks for decisions such as lifting the hold on 2,000-pound aerial bombs imposed by President Biden.
Trump himself played up his pro-Israel credentials in both presidential campaigns, threatening "hell" if the hostages were not released and working to ensure a deal was reached before his inauguration.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said that a second Trump administration would be an "opportunity" for the Netanyahu government, due to Trump and Netanyahu seeing "eye to eye" on Iran.
Trump himself has spoken of how it would be "nice" if Iran could reach a deal on nuclear weapons development that didn't require Israeli aerial bombardment. He also posted a video on his TruthSocial account showing Jeffrey Sachs accusing Netanyahu of being a warmonger since at least 1995.
Trump also courted the Arab American vote in Michigan, traditionally hostile to Israel, by claiming that he would bring peace and end the violence in both Gaza and Lebanon. He also spoke openly about being a President who ends wars rather than starts them.
Some of his appointees, such as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, are openly and very strongly pro-Israel. Others, appointed at lower levels in the Defense Department and elsewhere, have ties to isolationist or at least Israel-critical groups.
The Trump administration, just a week old, has thus far taken a number of steps to help Israel. In addition to releasing the hold on aerial weaponry and bulldozers, it lifted sanctions imposed on settlers and settler leaders by the Biden administration and agreed to extend the ceasefire in Lebanon by three weeks.
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