Netanyahu finds respite in U.S. visit
Israeli PM, facing probe at home, begins 3-day visit
WASHINGTON — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under siege from corruption investigations and other scandals back home, found a warm respite Monday at the White House at the start of a three-day U.S. visit expected to center on Iran, not the stalled Mideast peace process.
Even as a criminal investigation into Netanyahu deepened, the prime minister and President Donald Trump shook hands twice, smiled for the cameras and lavished each other with praise in the Oval Office before they sat down to lunch with their wives and Cabinet members.
Trump and Netanyahu have bonded especially closely, in part over their similar brash political personas, but also over the threat they view from Iran and their shared disdain of President Barack Obama. Their meetings offer a sharp contrast to Netanyahu’s visits with Obama, when they both often sat stiff and unsmiling.
In brief comments to reporters, both leaders said U.S.-Israeli relations are stronger than ever. “We are very close on trade deals; we are very, very close on military and terrorism and all of the things that we have to work together on,” Trump said. “The relationship has never been better.”
Netanyahu offered an enthusiastic endorsement of Trump’s decision in December to recognize the divided city of Jerusalem as capital of Israel, which previous administrations had refused to do in hopes of furthering peace negotiations.
Netanyahu compared Trump to Cyrus the Great, an ancient Persian king who conquered a vast empire and allowed the exiled Jews in Babylonia to return to their ancestral home to rebuild their temple.
“The Jewish people have a long memory,” Netanyahu said. Trump’s decision, he said, will be “remembered by our people through the ages.”
Trump said he is proud of recognizing Jerusalem, which he said other presidents had promised but never fulfilled. Critics say the decision upended hopes for a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that included an independent state for the Palestinians, who view east Jerusalem as their capital.
Trump said he may travel to Jerusalem later this year when the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv is symbolically transferred to Jerusalem. Initially, the embassy will work President Donald Trump greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. out of the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem with a skeleton staff.
Trump seemed confused on this point, saying an embassy could be constructed “quickly” for about $250,000. Building a complete new embassy that meets security requirements would be expected to cost at least tens of millions of dollars.
Trump and Netanyahu are widely unpopular at home, and could get a political boost from this visit, at least with their bases.
“They’re both expert at building public support by demonizing their foreign enemies, and they have nothing but disdain for what they see as a liberal press corps that is constantly attacking them unfairly,” said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
But he said Netanyahu has the most to gain.
“The walls are closing in around Netanyahu, as a set of corruption scandals threaten to end his political career,” he said. “He will trumpet apparent success rebuilding Israeli ties with the White House, and his cost-free victory of moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, as an indicator that he is Israel’s indispensable leader.”
He added that Israeli courts may not agree, noting that a previous prime minister and president each served jail time for actions while in office.
In his Oval Office comments, Netanyahu described Iran as the “greatest challenge” to Israel, the United States and its Arab allies, and warned it is “practicing aggression everywhere.”
He said Tehran had emerged from the landmark 2015 nuclear accord “emboldened and enriched.” Most world powers, as well as the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, say the deal has successfully blocked Iran from obtaining, developing or building nuclear weapons.
Trump has threatened to walk away from the disarmament accord and may do so as soon as May, when a deadline for certification of Iran’s compliance to Congress comes due.