Netanyahu heads to Washington to meet Trump, hoping to ‘redraw’ Middle East
Immediate issue is future of hostage-release ceasefire deal in Gaza war; PM says working closely with US president, ‘we can strengthen security, broaden the circle of peace’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left on Sunday for Washington, where he is to meet later this week with US President Donald Trump, declaring before boarding his flight that cooperation with the new administration could redraw the Middle East.
Netanyahu said his meetings in the US capital “will deal with important, critical issues facing Israel and the region — victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages, and dealing with the Iranian terror axis in all its components, an axis that threatens the peace of Israel, the Middle East, and the entire world.”
Speaking in English before boarding the plane, he said that the fact that he is the first foreign leader to meet Trump in the White House since the latter’s inauguration is “a testimony to the strength of the Israeli-American alliance. It’s also a testimony to the strength of our personal friendship.”
“The decisions we’ve made in the war have already changed the face of the Middle East,” Netanyahu declared alongside the state’s official plane, Wing of Zion, which took him to Washington. “Our decisions and the courage of our soldiers have redrawn the map. But I believe that working closely with President Trump, we can redraw it even further, and for the better.”
“I believe that we can strengthen security, broaden the circle of peace, and achieve a remarkable era of peace through strength,” he said.
Netanyahu was apparently referring to ties with Saudi Arabia. Israel is pushing for the establishment of a negotiating team to hold talks on official relations with the Gulf state, the Kan public broadcaster reported Saturday, adding that the Trump administration wants to achieve peace between Jerusalem and Riyadh as part of the US president’s vision for a “Golden age of peace in the Middle East.”
The move would expand on the Abraham Accords, through which Israel established relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco during Trump’s first term in office. Saudi Arabia did not join the 2020 accords and has never recognized Israel.
Normalization with Saudi Arabia has been all but shelved due to the war in Gaza as well as Riyadh’s demands that Israel establish a diplomatic horizon for a future Palestinian state.
However, Trump said ahead of his return to the White House last month that he hoped to use the momentum of the Gaza ceasefire deal to expand the Abraham Accords to include Saudi Arabia.
US special envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff has said that Qatar, which along with the US and Egypt, mediated the Gaza ceasefire, is also a candidate for normalization.
Netanyahu’s visit comes at a critical moment in a complex, three-phase ceasefire with Hamas that halted the war in the Gaza Strip that the Palestinian terror group started in October 2023 and that is to see the release of all the hostages held by terror groups in the coastal enclave.
The new Trump administration was involved in mediated negotiations for the ceasefire even before the president was inaugurated earlier this month, and he is eager to see the plan completed. Netanyahu, however, is facing pressure from the far-right flank of his coalition to restart the fighting after the completion of the first, six-week stage of the deal. Under the terms of the ceasefire, talks over the second stage are supposed to begin this week, but Netanyahu appears to be keeping his options open until he has met with Trump on Tuesday.
As the prime minister departed to Washington, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called him to “strengthen our grip and sovereignty” over the West Bank, while describing Trump as “a lover of Israel.” The Palestinians want the West Bank, which is controlled by Israel and includes some 140 Israeli settlements, as part of a future state.
“A great deal is at stake – complete victory in Gaza, the destruction of Hamas and the return of all our hostages, strengthening our security on all borders – in Syria, Lebanon, and of course against the head of the octopus, the Iranian regime and the nuclear threat. This danger must be removed,” Smotrich declared Sunday in a video message aimed at Netanyahu.
“We must strengthen our grip and sovereignty over the homeland in Judea and Samaria,” he said, using the biblical name for the West Bank.
Smotrich has threatened to bolt the government if the war is not restarted, while fellow far-right party Otzma Yehudit has already left the coalition in protest of the deal. Without Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, the government would lose its majority in the Knesset.
From a position of strength, Israel is “making peace, forging alliances, and strengthening its position,” Smotrich continued.
Benny Gantz, the leader of the opposition National Unity party, also wished Netanyahu success on his trip, declaring that it is critical for Israel’s future.
”The meeting with President Trump is of paramount importance for advancing the return of all our hostages, coordinating the response to the Iranian challenge, expanding the circle of normalization, and removing Hamas rule,” Gantz tweeted.
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer was accompanying Netanyahu to Washington, as was government hostage coordinator Gal Hirsch. Also on the plane was Dr. Eyal Heller, a senior cardiologist at Sheba Medical Center. Netanyahu, who has a history of heart issues, was fitted with a pacemaker at the hospital in 2023.
There was no statement from Netanyahu’s office about why Heller was on the trip, but it may indicate a desire to keep a close eye on the prime minister’s health, especially after he underwent prostate surgery in late December.
The day before he sits down with Trump, Netanyahu is to hold a meeting with envoy Witkoff, to initiate talks on the second stage of the hostage release deal with Hamas, which are slated to begin that day, the Prime Minister’s Office said Saturday. Witkoff was deeply involved in the ceasefire negotiations even before Trump’s January 20 inauguration.
Reports have increasingly indicated, however, that Netanyahu is seriously entertaining the possibility of resuming the war after the first phase of the deal, as the far-right members of his governing coalition have demanded, rather than continuing on to the second phase.
Alongside reports that Netanyahu had canceled a meeting with top Israeli negotiators, Channel 12 reported on Saturday evening that the premier was considering appointing Dermer as head of Israel’s negotiating team for the remaining hostage talks with Hamas. He would take over the role from Mossad chief Barnea.
According to the report, Barnea would remain on the team alongside Bar and Alon, while Dermer would oversee the talks. The report claimed that Witkoff has expressed that he would prefer to work with Dermer and has reservations about working with the current negotiating team.
The PMO denied the reports.
So far, 13 Israeli hostages have been freed as part of the deal, which mandates the release of 33 so-called “humanitarian hostages” during its first 42-day phase, with fighting stopped in the Strip. Five Thai hostages have also been freed outside of the framework of the agreement.
The three-phase deal’s later stages are subject to negotiations with the stated goal of reaching a “sustainable calm” in the enclave, alongside the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza, the release of more Palestinian security prisoners, and an Israeli withdrawal from the Strip.
The hostages are among the 251 people kidnapped on October 7, 2023, when some 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists burst into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, amid rampant acts of brutality and overt targeting of civilians.
Seventy-six of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
