Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington DC on Sunday night ahead of a series of hastily arranged meetings with US President Donald Trump and senior US officials over the next two days.

The meetings will largely focus on the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip and the hostages, of whom 59 are still in captivity, as well as Trump’s new tariff policy, under which Israeli goods face a 17 percent US tariff. Netanyahu’s office has also said that “Israel-Turkey relations, the Iranian threat and confronting the International Criminal Court” will be on the agenda.

Trump told reporters on Sunday: “We’re going to talk about trade, and we’re going to talk about the obvious subject. You know what the obvious subject is, right?” This was interpreted in Israel as likely referring either to the hostages held in Gaza or to Iran’s nuclear program.

The premier departed for Washington from Budapest on Sunday, less than 24 hours after the trip was announced.

The visit, which is expected to last until Tuesday but which Channel 12 reported could be extended, was said to have been planned following a three-way conversation last week between Netanyahu, Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Upon his arrival in Washington with his wife, Sara Netanyahu, the premier headed from the airport to Blair House in a convoy, where he met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

Netanyahu’s office said that the meeting was “warm and productive.”

The Wing of Zion state plane took a flight path that increased the journey from Budapest to Washington by some 400 kilometers in order to avoid flying over countries seen as likely to enforce the arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court should the plane be forced to make an emergency landing.

As Israel believes that........

© The Times of Israel