AFP / Mandel NGAN
Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu Netanyahu praised President Donald Trump's highly
contentious decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, during a
meeting at the White House
Donald Trump floated a fraught trip to open the new US embassy in Jerusalem, as the embattled US president hosted Israel's equally embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House Monday.
The two leaders -- both under career-threatening legal investigation -- tried to cast their domestic problems aside, putting on a show of bonhomie and mutual appreciation in sunny Washington.
Sat in the Oval Office, Netanyahu waxed lyrical, painting
Trump as the heir to a pantheon of historical figures, as he hailed
Trump's "bold" decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the
disputed city of Jerusalem.
Netanyahu likened the US leader to the
ancient Persian king Cyrus the Great, who freed the Jews from captivity
in Babylon; to Lord Balfour who a century ago affirmed the rights of
the Jewish people in Palestine; and president Harry Truman who
recognized the Jewish state.
"I want to thank you for your extraordinary friendship," said the Israeli premier.
The
71-year-old president responded with some lyrical waxing of his own,
saying he would consider a trip to open the controversial embassy this
May, when Israel celebrates 70 years since its declaration of
independence.
"We're looking at coming. If I can, I will," Trump said. "I may. We will be talking about that and other things."
"Israel
is very special to me. Special country, special people, and I look
forward to being there, and I'm very proud of that decision," he added.
The
trip would be political catnip for Trump and Netanyahu, appealing to
supporters who see good US-Israel ties as a strategic and even religious
imperative.
But the trip would also be a major security and
diplomatic challenge, one that risks further infuriating Arab allies and
scuttling US claims to be an independent broker for peace.
Both Israel and the Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital.
The
embassy move prompted deadly protests and was condemned by 128 states
in a United Nations General Assembly vote in December.
Trump's
decision has complicated Trump's already ambitious promise to reach the
"ultimate deal" between Israelis and Palestinians.
US peace
proposals are said to be close to conclusion, but have suffered amid
Palestinian anger and as Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and
pointman for peace, lost his top-secret security clearance.
- 'Partners in ideology' -
Despite Trump and Netanyahu's warmth, their domestic problems were never far away from the surface.
 |
| President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, welcoming Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu in the Rose Garden of the White House |
The Israeli leader has embraced the Trumpian tactic of denouncing corruption allegations as "fake news," the same term Trump has used to describe his campaign team's alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 US elections.
Several of Trump's campaign aides are already facing charges or have pled guilty to lying to FBI investigators.
"I
think they are partners in ideology, and the ideology is a populist,
conservative ideology which says that the old liberal elites are against
us," said Gayil Talshir, a political scientist at Jerusalem's Hebrew
University.
In his encounters with Trump and at the annual
conference of the influential lobby group the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Netanyahu was expected to focus mainly on
Iran as Israel's greatest enemy, and one he says seeks a permanent
military presence in neighboring Syria.
The prime minister is also
expected to call again for changes to, or the cancellation of, the
nuclear accord between world powers and Iran, said Zalman Shoval, a
former Israeli ambassador to Washington.
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