Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Credit: Reuters Photo
Jerusalem: For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the meeting with President Donald Trump scheduled for Monday will serve as a kind of victory lap after the joint Israeli-US assault last month on Iran's nuclear facilities.
The White House visit -- the prime minister's third since Trump returned to office -- is likely to add luster to Netanyahu's laurels, especially with his voters back home, analysts said, as he soon heads into an election year.
But such trips have yielded surprises in the past.
The last time Netanyahu was in the Oval Office, in April, he sat somewhat awkwardly at Trump's side as the president announced that Washington would be engaging in "direct" talks with Iran in a last-ditch effort to rein in the country's nuclear program. That month, Netanyahu tried to convince Trump that the time was right for a military assault on Iran, but he was swatted down.
This time, Trump is eager to advance a ceasefire deal for the Gaza Strip that would see Hamas release hostages and would ultimately end the long war in the Palestinian enclave that was set off by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. On Sunday, Israel sent negotiators to Qatar, a mediating country, to try to bridge differences with Hamas.
The United States said it was also brokering talks between Israel and Syria aimed at restoring calm along their frontier.
Then there is the unfinished business with Iran, given the varying assessments of how far Israel's 12-day assault and the U.S. intervention set back Iran's nuclear weapons program, and the possibility of renewed negotiations on a nuclear agreement.
"It's a victory lap with a caveat," said Alon Pinkas, a political commentator and Israeli former diplomat who advised several Israeli prime ministers in the past.
"Netanyahu knows the truth -- that Iran retains some capabilities," Pinkas said. The prime minister needs clarifications from Trump, he said, about what would happen if Iran was seen to have resumed its nuclear activities, and whether the United States would back Israel if it resumed its attacks on Iran.
In remarks before boarding his plane to Washington on Sunday, Netanyahu said he would be meeting senior members of the administration and members of Congress.
As an added benefit, the trip allows Netanyahu to postpone his cross-examination in his corruption trial. Israeli courts go on summer recess from July 21 until early September.