Netanyahu Arrives in Washington for Fateful, Hopeful Visit to Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to arrive in Washington, DC, early Monday morning for meetings with President Donald Trump that could prove to be fateful for Israel, the Middle East, and indeed the world.

The meeting will be the third between the two leaders since Trump’s second term began, and the first since Israel and the United States jointly defeated Iran in the 12 Day War. Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran on June 12, and eliminated most of Israel’s senior military leaders, nuclear scientists, and air defenses. Israel also targeted and damaged many Iranian nuclear sites, and attacked Iran’s ballistic missile launchers. Iran fired hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel, killing dozens of civilians, but Israelis remained resilient.

The U.S. entered the war on June 22, when B-2 stealth bombers dropped half a dozen 30,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs on Iran’s buried Fordow nuclear site, and hit two other nuclear sites with Tomahawk missiles.

President Trump then insisted on a ceasefire. A defeated Iranian regime claimed victory, but Israel and the U.S. had won in dominant fashion, weakening Iran’s ability to threaten its neighbors, including Arab states.

Netanyahu and Trump will now discuss the post-conflict world. They must deal with ive related issues:

1. Iran: How to contain a severely weakened Iran, given that it may continue to pursue nuclear weapons, and given that its proxies, including the Houthis in Yemen, continue to launch attacks against Israel.
2. Gaza: How to bring the war to a conclusion, and what the post-war arrangement will be for governing the territory, given a shared desire to see Hamas disarmed and permanently excluded from authority.
3. Hostages: Whether to accept a temporary ceasefire deal that will see only ten of the presumed 20 living hostages released over 60 days, or to insist on an agreement that sees all of the hostages freed.
4. Palestinians: Beyond Gaza and Hamas, there is the question of Palestinian political aspirations, with Israel skeptical of Palestinian statehood but regional pressure for some progress toward autonomy.
5. Abraham Accords: How to bring Saudi Arabia, and perhaps Syria and Lebanon, into an arrangement that effectively ends the Arab-Israel conflict and creates an India-Middle East-Europe trade corridor.

Trump clearly wants to end the war, and the question is whether he will press Israel to accept conditions that Netanyahu might otherwise not want to accept. The Israeli public wants peace soon — but not at any price.