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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested an in-person meeting with former President Donald Trump while in the U.S. this week, according to two people familiar with the outreach.
Netanyahu is coming to Washington this week to meet with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and lawmakers on Capitol Hill. He is also slated to give a speech in front of Congress Wednesday.
Netanyahu and Trump’s teams have in recent days discussed the possibility of the two leaders meeting face-to-face, potentially in Florida. Trump has yet to agree to a meeting, but also has not outright rejected the idea, the people said.
One of the people said if the meeting does take place, it will likely be later in the week following Trump’s rally in North Carolina on Thursday.
The Trump campaign and the Israeli embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
The conversations come amid a historic decision by Biden to pull out of the race and as Harris ramps up her campaign for president. Harris is still in the midst of forming her team and ironing out her foreign policy stances, including how she will present her position on the war in Gaza.
Trump is a staunch supporter of the state of Israel and in 2017 formally recognized Jerusalem as its capital. He moved the U.S. embassy there the following year.
But he and Netanyahu have had a falling out in recent years. Trump was angered by Netanyahu’s congratulatory statements following Biden’s win in 2020. And the former president condemned Netanyahu for the country’s intelligence failure around Oct. 7. He has also threatened the prime minister that if he doesn’t cement a deal to bring home the hostages soon, a Trump administration won’t look kindly on him.
“They better be back before I assume office, or you will be paying a very big price,” Trump said in his speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last week.
If Netanyahu secures a meeting with Trump this week it could help him build support with the former president and for his policies in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as his campaign on its northern border against Hezbollah.
It would also give Trump a chance to establish more formal communications with Netanyahu at a time when Harris’ campaign is still trying to work out how it will handle a prime minister that has been increasingly at odds with parts of the Democratic establishment.
The U.S. and Israel are this week hoping to move forward talks to help reach a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of all remaining hostages. Delegations from both countries, as well as teams from Egypt and Qatar, were set to meet in the Middle East last week before Israel informed Washington that it had decided not to send its team.
