Netanyahu’s White House visit appears back on track as Biden fights off COVID

WASHINGTON — A highly charged meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden appeared back on track upon the premier’s arrival in Washington on Monday, after it seemed up in the air as the American leader continued to convalesce from a bout with COVID-19.

With Netanyahu having flown to Washington, DC, on Monday for meetings and a politically fraught address to Congress, a report suggesting that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump had thus far declined to schedule a meeting with Netanyahu cast another question mark over the high-level visit.

As he is recovering from COVID, Biden announced Monday in his first public remarks since last week that he will be “out of people’s hair for the next three-four days,” ruling out what a source in Netanyahu’s entourage said was a tentatively scheduled meeting for Tuesday.

However, the White House later updated Biden’s schedule to show he would return Tuesday afternoon to Washington from Delaware, where he has been quarantining, and a US official told The Times of Israel that the administration “expects” he will host Netanyahu for a meeting on Thursday. Netanyahu is currently slated to return to Israel on Thursday evening after giving his speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday afternoon.

Biden’s physician Kevin O’Conner said Monday that his symptoms “have almost resolved completely,” and that the president was continuing to perform all of his duties from quarantine.

The White House said Biden received separate briefings on Monday from Homeland Security Adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Both briefings were conducted virtually.

The president tested positive for COVID while campaigning in Nevada last week. News of the illness came days before Biden announced he would drop his reelection bid amid concerns over his age and health, seemingly paving the way for Vice President Kamala Harris to pick up the Democratic nomination for the White House race.

Harris won’t be at PM’s speech; Sen. Cardin will preside over session

Netanyahu is also scheduled to meet with Harris during the trip, though the timing of that sit-down has not been finalized either.

A statement from a Harris aide on Monday said the vice president would use the meeting with Netanyahu to convey “her view that it is time for the war to end in a way in which 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.”

“We anticipate she will underscore her commitment to ensure Israel can defend itself from threats from Iran and Iranian-backed militias, including Lebanese Hezbollah and Hamas. She will again condemn Hamas’ brutal terrorist attack on October 7, and horrific sexual violence. She will reiterate her deep concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the loss of innocent life,” the statement added.

The vice president’s office confirmed that she will not preside over Netanyahu’s Wednesday speech to a joint session of Congress, as she will be in Indianapolis for a previously scheduled event — a convention of Zeta Phi Beta, one of America’s oldest Black sororities. “Her travel to Indianapolis should not be interpreted as a change in her position with regard to Israel,” her office noted.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Ben Cardin will preside over the address along with House Speaker Mike Johnson, the former’s office confirmed to The Times of Israel. The New York Times reported that Sen. Patty Murray was originally asked to stand in for Harris, but declined.

GOP Senator JD Vance of Ohio, Trump’s running mate, will also not attend the speech due to a campaign-related commitment.

The statement from Harris’s aide also highlighted the vice president’s pro-Israel record, amid a drumbeat of media reports that have presented her as a more critical foil to Biden. “Throughout her career, the vice president has had an unwavering commitment to the security of Israel. That remains true today,” the aide said.

“Since October 7, she has been deeply engaged with Israeli officials as part of our administration’s support for Israel as it works to eliminate the threat of Hamas,” the aide said, pointing to calls and meetings she has held with President Isaac Herzog and former war cabinet minister Benny Gantz along with over 20 calls between Biden and Netanyahu that she has also joined. The aide pointed out that she has repeatedly condemned Hamas’s October 7 onslaught and expressed support for Israel’s right to self-defense. She has also met with former hostages and hosted an event at the White House that highlighted Hamas’s use of sexual violence, the Harris aide noted.

Speaking from the tarmac before departing Israel on Monday morning, Netanyahu, who had already pushed off his trip by a day due to Biden’s illness, appeared keen to bury differences between his government and the US administration that have intensified as the war against Hamas in Gaza has dragged on.

Striking a bipartisan tone, Netanyahu said he intended to use his speech to Congress to reaffirm to the US that “regardless of who the American people choose as their next president, Israel remains its most indispensable and strongest ally in the Middle East.”

Trump meeting?

The prime minister’s efforts to secure a meeting with the current front-runner in the race to succeed Biden, former president Trump, have been stymied until now, according to a Monday report by Politico.

Citing two unnamed people familiar with the details, the news site reported that while Trump has not rejected the idea outright, he has yet to agree to a meeting, which would likely take place in Florida.

One source was quoted saying that such a meeting would likely not occur until after Trump holds a rally in North Carolina on Wednesday.

It’s unclear where or when that meeting would be held if Trump agrees, but a sit-down with both the Republican nominee and Biden on the same day might be difficult to organize for both scheduling and political reasons, as Netanyahu seeks to avoid alienating either Republicans or Democrats.

Because he doesn’t fly over the Sabbath, the prime minister will have to stay in the US through at least Saturday if he does not leave for Israel by Thursday night, in what would make this a nearly weeklong trip abroad in the middle of a war.

The Israeli premier has a checkered history with both Biden and Trump.

The Biden administration has stood staunchly beside Israel, and the Democrat became the first US president to make a wartime visit to the country, less than two weeks after October 7.

But the relationship between the two leaders has appeared to grow increasingly strained as the result of disagreements over Israel’s campaign against Hamas, and chiefly the continued difficulties of getting humanitarian aid to civilians, the unverified high death toll reported by Hamas health authorities, and what the US says is Israel’s lack of postwar plans for the Strip. Similar concerns will likely persist if Americans elect a new Democratic president.

Biden earlier this year froze the delivery of high-payload bombs over fears they would be used in Israel’s incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which at the time sheltered more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.

The issue of weapons shipments turned into an extended spat, after Netanyahu issued a video statement slamming “inconceivable” “bottlenecks” that the US had created in the transfer of shipments of weapons; the Biden administration responded by saying it had no idea what the premier was talking about.

Trump at rallies has used typical bombast to signal support for Israel’s military campaign, but has also been harshly critical of the government’s management of the war effort and Netanyahu in particular for failing to prevent the October 7 attack.

Since leaving office, the Republican has repeatedly spoken out against Netanyahu, including angrily accusing him of disloyalty for congratulating Biden on his 2020 election win.

Netanyahu’s address to Congress on Wednesday — his fourth one as prime minister — has the potential to ease or exacerbate frictions on both sides of the ocean, amid ongoing efforts to bring about a ceasefire and hostage release deal and rising concerns of a new full-out front opening up with the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon or the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The prime minister is accompanied on his trip by freed hostages and family members of those still captive in Gaza, including some who have criticized the prime minister over the failures surrounding the October 7 terror onslaught but who believe their presence may pressure him into agreeing to a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Agencies contributed to this report.