Donald Trump invites Benjamin Netanyahu to White House on February 4

The Israeli Prime Minister will be the first foreign leader invited to meet Donald Trump in Washington and comes after the US President advocated relocating Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be the first foreign leader to meet Donald Trump at the White House.

Donald Trump has invited Benjamin Netanyahu to a meeting at the White House on February 4, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office has announced.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu is the first foreign leader to be invited to the White House during President Trump’s second term,” the PMO said in a statement.

The White House confirmed Mr Netanyahu had been invited, but an official told Israel media a date had not yet been set for a meeting with the president.

The Times of Isarel reports that Mr Trump wrote to Mr Netanyahu in the invitation: “I look forward to discussing how we can bring peace to Israel and its neighbors, and efforts to counter our shared adversaries.”

Mr Netanyahu, who is currently giving testimony in his ongoing corruption trial, will have to ask for a pause in court proceedings to travel to Washington.

The Trump-Netanyahu meeting comes after Mr Trump repeatedly claimed credit for sealing an ongoing ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which came after months of fruitless negotiations.

After the ceasefire took effect, Mr Trump touted a plan to “clean out” the Gaza Strip, calling for Palestinians to relocate to neighbouring countries such as Egypt or Jordan.

The idea has faced strong backlash from Egypt and Jordan as well as from European governments.

On Monday Mr Trump elaborated on the plan, telling reporters on Air Force One that he wants to relocate Gaza residents to “an area where they can live without disruption and revolution and violence.”

Moving Palestinians from Gaza, he said, would “get people living in areas that are a lot safer and maybe a lot better and maybe a lot more comfortable.” He again pushed Egypt and Jordan, to help with the plan.

“We helped them a lot, and I’m sure he’d help us. He’s a friend of mine, ” Mr Trump said of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. “I think he would do it, and I think the king of Jordan would do it too.”

Egypt, Jordan, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, have all rejected the idea of relocating Palestinians. The Arab League, a group of 22 nations, said Monday the proposal would only prolong the conflict.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday (local time) the expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip would be “unacceptable”.

“In light of recent public statements, I say very clearly that any relocation plans -- the idea that the citizens of Gaza will be expelled to Egypt or Jordan -- is unacceptable,” Mr Scholz said at a town hall event in Berlin.

Arab officials from Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia are also discussing holding an emergency meeting for Arab states to make public their opposition to Mr Trump’s proposal and put pressure on him to change course, according to Arab officials familiar with the talks.

During his first term, Mr Trump frequently claimed that Israel “never had a better friend in the White House”, a sentiment often echoed by Mr Netanyahu.

However, the Trump-Netanyahu relationship soured briefly after the Israeli leader congratulated Joe Biden on his 2020 election victory.

Mr Trump, who falsely claimed to have won the 2020 election, accused Mr Netanyahu of disloyalty, according to multiple media reports at the time.

Nonetheless, soon after taking office for his second term, the President reportedly approved a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, which the Biden administration had previously halted.

AFP, Dow Jones