WASHINGTON — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former President Donald Trump will meet on Friday at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate, a day after Netanyahu meets with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Netanyahu has been scrambling for the meetings, and the photo opportunities each would bring, with the current president as well as with Harris and Trump, who are all but certain to face each other in the November election. The meetings will come after his address to Congress on Wednesday, and as he strives to project a confident image at home amid war and protests demanding that he agree to a deal to free hostages held by Hamas.
Netanyahu, unusually, was unable to set the meetings until landing in the United States. He has arrived during a tumultuous week in American politics that saw Biden drop out of the presidential campaign and Harris take his place, all while Trump returned from the Republican convention, which met shortly after he narrowly survived an assassination attempt.
“It is very important for Israel for the prime minister to meet with President Biden and with the two leading candidates for the presidency of the United States,” said a statement released Tuesday from Netanyahu’s office.
Netanyahu’s ties with both party leaders have been troubled. Tensions between his administration and the U.S. government have mounted amid the Israel-Hamas war. Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly criticized Netanyahu in recent years after the prime minister congratulated Biden on his 2020 election victory.
Beyond the candidates, Netanyahu is facing headwinds as he prepares for his address to Congress, normally a moment of triumph for a foreign leader: Leading Democrats have said they will not attend the session, and top Republicans in Congress on Tuesday listened attentively to families of the hostages as they blamed the ongoing war on Netanyahu.
New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, a Democrat and pro-Israel stalwart who is the longest serving Jewish lawmaker in Congress, said he would attend Netanyahu’s address because he has been and always will be a Zionist. But he lacerated Netanyahu in Jewish historical terms, saying that the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion of Israel as well as the ongoing fighting made Netanyahu a failure.
“Benjamin Netanyahu is the worst leader in Jewish history since the Maccabean king who invited the Romans into Jerusalem over 2100 years ago,” Nadler said in a statement.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress is not in service of furthering the deep ties that bind the United States and Israel together, but rather is a cynical stunt aimed at aiding his own desperate political standing at home and meddling in domestic American politics only months before a highly consequential election,” Nadler said.
Among Democrats, dozens are believed ready to boycott the speech — among them top officials including Rep. Ross DeLauro, the senior Democrat on the House’s powerful Appropriations Committee, and Washington Sen. Patty Murray, who holds the Senate’s second-highest office.
Harris, as vice president, would normally join House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, a Republican, in presiding over the joint meeting. But she will be absent to attend a longstanding campaign event. Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, will likewise be skipping the speech to campaign.
Harris is considered more openly critical of Israel than Biden, but her office said her absence was not a political statement. “Her travel to Indianapolis on July 24 should not be interpreted as a change in her position with regard to Israel,” an official said.
Nonetheless, the official told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Harris would press Netanyahu to make a deal that would bring about a ceasefire for six weeks in exchange for the release of some hostages, and that could be extended to a permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages.
“We anticipate the vice president will convey her view that it is time for the war to end in a way where Israel is secure, all hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can enjoy their right to dignity, freedom, and self-determination,” the official said. “And they will discuss efforts to reach agreement on the ceasefire deal.”
Pro-Palestinian protesters already are in Washington. But on Wednesday, there will also be protests of a visiting Israeli prime minister by demonstrators who identify as pro-Israel, including expatriate Israelis aligned with the movement that is mounting massive weekly protests of Netanyahu in Israel.
Joining those protesters will be some families of hostages still held by Hamas. Overwhelming majorities of Israelis want Netanyahu to take the deal thought to be on the table, which would bring about a six-week ceasefire in exchange for the release of the hostages.
Capitol police arrested protesters attending a demonstration organized by the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace in the Cannon congressional office building on Capitol Hill. Staff and interns in the office of Rep. Dan Kildee, a Michigan Democrat, barricaded themselves in his office, saying that protesters banging on the door had frightened them.
Also Tuesday, seven major unions called on the Biden administration to suspend military assistance to Israel. The unions, including giants such as SEIU, UAW and NEA, wrote, “We believe that immediately cutting U.S. military aid to the Israeli government is necessary to bring about a peaceful resolution to this conflict.”
The hostage family members appeared to dent what may be one of the last redoubts of unconditional support for Netanyahu — congressional Republicans. In a brief hearing, Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, asked the families what they wanted him to tell Netanyahu. Many gave the same answer: Take the deal.
“We urge the committee members and this House, when the prime minister comes to the House, it should be a bipartisan effort to lean on him as well as other U.S. allies in region to get this deal done and just make it happen,” said Ruby Chen, whose son Itay Chen was killed and whose body remains in captivity.
“Last night we met with Prime Minister Netanyahu again,” said Daniel Neutra, whose brother Omer is held captive. “I have to say the urgency of the matter did not resonate with him. He did not answer when we asked him why he’s only sending his negotiators to keep the process going on Thursday, instead of days ago.” Netanyahu this week announced that negotiators would head to an undisclosed area on Thursday.
The hostage families have said that unless Netanyahu announces a hostage deal in his speech, they will see the speech as a failure.
“I’ll be meeting with the prime minister and I will certainly be bringing up this issue,” McCaul said.
McCaul’s somber tone and his willingness to countenance tough talk with Netanyahu was a marked departure from the support Netanyahu has long enjoyed among congressional Republicans. As recently as last week, Johnson got applause from Jewish Republicans when he said he would order the arrests of any Congress members who protested Netanyahu during his speech.
Trump, who has criticized Netanyahu’s conduct of the war, said on Truth Social that he was best positioned to end the war.
“Looking forward to welcoming Bibi Netanyahu at Mar-aLago in Palm Beach, Florida,” he said. “My PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH Agenda will demonstrate to the World that these horrible, deadly Wars, and violent Conflicts must end. Millions are dying, and Kamala Harris is in no way capable of stopping it.”
