Netanyahu comes to the White House on Trump’s invitation

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to meet US President Donald Trump in the White House, according to his office next week. Trump invited him to February 4, it said in a message. The white house has not yet confirmed the meeting.

Netanyahu could thus be the first head of government from abroad that Trump receives as president. Netanyahu’s office also stated in the message. Such an invitation directly at the beginning of Trump’s term of office is a strong gesture of support for the right -wing prime minister, who is very criticized internationally due to the warfare in the Gaza Strip.

The United States is the most important ally of Israel. Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden held despite the increasing criticism of the procedure in Gaza in Israel, but the tone towards Netanyahu’s government became rougher. Trump, on the other hand, is known as a close ally Netanyahus.

Trump’s Israel policy in the first term

Trump had already made a series of proisraeli decisions in his first term (2017 to 2021). At that time, his government recognized the Israeli claim to the occupied Golan heights as well as Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The United States moved its message there under Trump. In 2020, Trump also brought the so -called Abraham Agreement on the normalization of relationships between Israel and several Arab countries – then a historical breakthrough.

First steps in the second term

In the first days of his second term, Trump had again expressed support for Netanyahu. So he released the delivery of 2,000 pound bombs to Israel. Last year, the bidding government had stopped delivery of the heavy bombs out of concern that they could be used in inhabited areas in the sealed-up Gaza Strip.

After taking office again, Trump took up sanctions against radical Israeli settlers in the West Bank, which Bidens government had imposed. In the West Bank, the Hamas massacre has increasingly violated violence against Palestinians.

Shortly before the change of power in Washington, Israel and Islamist Hamas had agreed on a temporary ceasefire after months of struggle with the mediation of the United States, Egypt and Qatar. Trump also represents this as his earnings – and in fact his hard threats to Hamas may have had a certain effect.

Controversial idea of ​​Trump

With a controversial idea, Trump recently caused outrage – and was only encouraged by right -wing extremist Israeli politicians: he spoke out to clear the largely destroyed Gaza strip and to accommodate the Palestinians living there in Arab countries. He wanted Egypt and Jordan to absorb people, Trump said at the weekend. One speaks of one and a half million people. Should be “tidy” in the area.

Terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups had delayed more than 250 Israelis as hostages into the Gaza Strip in their raid on Israel, in which around 1,200 people were killed. The attack was the trigger of the war in the sealed coastal area, where, according to the health authority controlled by the Hamas, more than 47,100 people have been killed since then. The number does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

The coastal strip has been violently destroyed since the beginning of the war. The UN still view it as an Israeli area because Israel exercises control there. Palestinian representatives warned and convicted Trump’s statement.