IsraelFocus on the Middle East: Trump receives Netanyahu at the White House
SDA
4.2.2025 - 05:07
ARCHIVE - US President Donald Trump (l) meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP/dpa
Keystone
US President Donald Trump will receive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House today (local time). Netanyahu is the first foreign state guest to be received by the Republican in Washington during his second term in office. Following their talks, the two will appear before the press together.
Keystone-SDA
04.02.2025, 05:07
SDA
The main purpose of the meeting is to prepare for the next round of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas on a continuation of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. According to media reports, Trump and Netanyahu also want to make progress on an agreement to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
In 2020, during his first term in office, Trump initiated the so-called Abraham Accords to normalize relations between Israel and several Arab states - a historic breakthrough at the time. In October 2023, the incipient rapprochement with Saudi Arabia was abruptly ended by the massacre by Hamas and other Islamist terrorists in southern Israel.
According to reports, Netanyahu wants to use his visit to the US for several meetings - in addition to the US special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, he also wants to hold talks with the new Defense Minister Pete Hegseth and with influential representatives of evangelical groups that are considered part of the ultra-right camp in the US. The United States is Israel's most important ally.
Reports: Netanyahu extends visit to the USA
According to reports, Netanyahu wants to extend his stay in Washington as there are numerous requests for further meetings. He will therefore probably stay in Washington until Saturday evening instead of just until Thursday, Israeli media reported, citing Netanyahu's office.
The Israeli head of government was last in the US capital at the end of July, where he gave a speech to the US Congress and then met Trump's predecessor Joe Biden in the White House. He later also met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The visit was met with considerable criticism from both the political establishment and parts of the American public. Several members of Congress from the Democratic Party boycotted Netanyahu's speech and there were protests on the streets against Israel's military action in the Gaza Strip.
Demonstrations have also been announced this time. However, Netanyahu has a much more sympathetic ally in the White House in Trump. Although Biden has stood by Israel despite increasing criticism of its actions in Gaza, the tone towards Netanyahu's government has become harsher over the course of the conflict.
Palestinians: Radical settlers attack village in the West Bank
Meanwhile, the spiral of violence in the West Bank continues. According to Palestinian reports, radical Jewish settlers attacked the village of Susya. They hurled stones at several houses, destroyed water tanks and damaged cars, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, citing local authorities in the village in the Masafer Jatta region south of Hebron.
Filmmaker Basel Adra, who won the documentary film prize at last year's Berlinale with "No Other Land", published several videos on the news platform X showing the attackers and the damage. "As I write this, I am surrounded by armed and masked settlers carrying out a terror attack on Masafer Jatta," he wrote.
The German ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, shared Adra's videos on the online platform X and criticized the attack. "How can it be that something like this happens almost every day? Serious action must be taken against this extremist settler violence," he wrote. "It is a question of human rights (of the Palestinians living there) and security (because no one can have an interest in setting fire to the West Bank)."