BICOM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to leave Israel this afternoon for a three-day visit to Washington DC and is scheduled to meet President Trump on Wednesday.

The meeting between the two leaders has a lengthy agenda and is expected to include the Iranian nuclear deal, Syria and the threat from ISIS, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the settlement issue. Trump’s election promise to move the US embassy to Jerusalem is also likely to be discussed.

In a sign of warmer relations Netanyahu and his entourage will be hosted at Blair House, the official White House guest residence.

Ahead of the visit Netanyahu, chaired a four-hour meeting of the security cabinet. Israeli media reported that he warned ministers the Trump administration would not tolerate unlimited construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The warning follows an interview last week to Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom in which President Trump said that settlement growth was not “good for peace.”

Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said he intended to “strengthen the steadfast alliance with the US, and to strengthen our other national interests which are fundamentally connected to the strength of ties with the US. This requires a responsible and considered policy – and thus I intend to act”.

Netanyahu is facing intense political pressure from the right flank of his coalition who regard Trump’s election as an opportunity to reject the idea of a Palestinian state and to annex parts of the West Bank. In a Facebook post Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett urged the Prime Minister to avoid any discussion about the two-state solution and warned that the words “Palestinian State” are an “historic tragedy that must not be uttered”.

Prime Minister Netanyahu will also meet with Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.