Donald Trump has invited Benjamin Netanyahu to be the first foreign leader to visit the White House, in a major concession to a US ally who is wanted by the international criminal court for war crimes.
The invitation was made in a letter from the US president, which invited the Israeli prime minister to come to the White House on 4 February to “discuss how we can bring peace to Israel and its neighbors, and efforts to counter our shared adversaries”.
“It will be my honor to host you as my first foreign leader during my second term,” the letter read.
Trump has said he is “not confidant” that the ceasefire in Gaza will hold. Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel and Hamas should soon commence negotiating a longer-term peace that many fear will fail and lead to a return to bloodshed following more than 15 months of fighting.
Trump and Netanyahu have had a difficult personal relationship, but Israel remains the US’s closest ally in the region. Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, is said to have had a tense conversation with Netanyahu in the days before a hostages-for-ceasefire deal was negotiated between Hamas and Israel on the day before Trump’s inauguration.
Since then, Trump has lifted a ban on supplying Israel with 2,000lb bombs that had been held back by the Biden administration in opposition to Israel’s overwhelming use of force against Gaza.
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Trump late last week suggested that the Gaza Strip could be “just cleaned out” and that more than 1.5 million people be sent to other Arab countries, in offhand remarks that appeared to reflect plans for an ethnic cleansing of the region.
Netanyahu has been accused by the international criminal court of bearing responsibility for targeting civilian populations and using “starvation as a method of warfare” during the Israeli military’s campaign in Gaza, which followed the 7 October raid by Hamas that killed roughly 1,200 Israelis and saw hundreds more taken hostage.
More than 120 member countries of the ICC should arrest Netanyahu if he sets foot on their territory, including most of Europe. The United States is not a party to the agreement and Republicans have introduced legislation to sanction the ICC for the warrants against Netanyahu and the former Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant. Democrats on Tuesday blocked that legislation.
