BICOM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet US President Donald Trump at the White House today before addressing the AIPAC policy conference. He is also scheduled to hold meetings with Congressional leaders and fly to New York for an event honouring Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky.

Trump has arranged for Prime Minister Netanyahu and his wife Sara to stay at Blair House, the White House’s official guesthouse, emphasising the close relationship between the two leaders.

Their meeting today is expected to focus on Iranian expansion in the Middle East. Netanyahu said: “I intend to discuss a series of issues but first Iran – its aggression, its nuclear aspirations, and its aggressive actions in the Middle East in general and on our borders, all of them, in particular. I think that the need to rebuff this aggression is a common goal for us and for nearby countries in the region, but first of all it is ours, that of all Israelis.”

Israeli officials are concerned that the US has not been sufficiently involved in the efforts to curb Iranian entrenchment in Syria and have left the arena to the Russians.

Netanyahu is likely to say that the Iranian nuclear agreement should either be cancelled or fixed and that he wants to have a coordinated position with Trump by 12 May, which is the deadline the US President set the deal’s co-signatories to either improve parts of the agreement otherwise the US would unilaterally withdraw and renew sanctions against Iran.

The two leaders will also discuss Trump’s plan to relaunch a US sponsored peace deal for Israel and the Palestinians. Last night, Netanyahu discussed the plan in a meeting with the President’s son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner and Special Representative for International Negotiations, Jason Greenblatt.

Netanyahu will be in the US for five days. He has appointed Culture Minister Miri Regev as the acting Prime Minister and she will chair cabinet meetings. Netanyahu asked Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman to lead meetings of the security cabinet.