US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he doesn’t plan to stop in Israel during his trip to the Middle East next week.

“We’re not planning on stopping in Israel. We will be doing it at some point, but not [on] this trip,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during the ceremonial swear-in of Steve Witkoff as his special envoy to the Mideast.

Trump will depart for Saudi Arabia on Monday before making stops in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He is slated to return on Friday, May 16.

Earlier Tuesday, the Axios news site reported that Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter recently proposed to the White House that Trump add a short stop in Israel during his Mideast trip.

Speaking to reporters earlier Tuesday during his Oval Office meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trump said he plans to make a major announcement in the coming days before his departure for the Middle East, but he declined to say what the topic would be about.

Trump said he had a “very, very, very big announcement to make.. like as big as it gets… it’s really positive” and will come Thursday, Friday or........

© The Times of Israel