Netanyahu off to US for five days of meetings, including with Trump
Under cloud of several investigations, PM to address AIPAC conference
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left on Saturday night for five days in the US and a meeting with President Donald Trump, even as police continue to investigate him and former confidants for alleged wrongdoing in a number of different affairs.
On Friday afternoon, shortly after he and his wife, Sara – who will be joining him in the US – were questioned again by the police, Netanyahu posted a video to his Facebook account calling his visit a “very important” one, and saying he will meet with a “big friend of Israel, a true friend, President Donald Trump.”
Referring to the investigations and questioning, Netanyahu said he feels confident “because there will not be anything [found in the probes].”
This will be Netanyahu’s fourth trip abroad since the beginning of the year, having gone to India and Davos in January, and Munich in February. It will also be their fifth meeting with Trump since he took office in January 2017.
Three issues are expected to be high on the agenda during the prime minister’s meeting with Trump: the president’s recent decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem in May; the stalled diplomatic process with the Palestinians; and the Iranian nuclear deal, which
Trump is presently trying to alter.
Netanyahu is expected to invite Trump to Jerusalem to take part in the ceremony that will officially change the US Consulate in Jerusalem to an embassy.
In addition to meeting Trump, the prime minister has meetings planned with both Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress.
Netanyahu is scheduled to address the annual AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington on Tuesday, the first time he has spoken in person at the gathering since 2015. The last two years he spoke via satellite hookup.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu is to fly to New York and take part in a Jewish Agency fund-raising tribute to outgoing Chairman Natan Sharansky. Among those who will be speaking at the event are former US president George W. Bush, with whom Sharansky forged a strong relationship.
The prime minister is scheduled to return to Israel on Friday. •