By Jasper Ward and Matt Spitalnick
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Tuesday he will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday at his resort in Palm Beach, Florida, in a sign the two men are looking to improve relations.
“I look forward to welcoming Bibi Netanyahu to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida,” the former US president said in a post on Truth Social, using Netanyahu’s nickname.
This will be their first meeting since the end of Trump’s presidency, during which they established close ties, and comes at a time of tensions between Netanyahu and Democratic President Joe Biden over Israel’s war against Hamas militants in Gaza.
Late Tuesday, Trump released a letter written to him by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas the day after the former US president was shot during a rally in Pennsylvania.
Abbas wished Trump “strength and safety,” according to the message Trump posted. In the same post, Trump also said he looked forward to meeting Netanyahu and working to achieve peace in the Middle East.
Netanyahu angered Trump when he congratulated Biden on his victory over Trump in the 2020 election. Trump falsely claimed that the election was stolen from him due to voter fraud.
Politico reported Monday that Netanyahu had requested a personal meeting with Trump during his visit to Washington this week. The Israeli Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a speech on Wednesday, Netanyahu will seek to renew congressional support for Israel’s military operations in the Palestinian enclave. He will also meet this week with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who on Sunday entered the 2024 presidential race after Biden dropped out.
The Israeli leader appears to be hedging his bets on the US election in November. Polls suggest the race is tight, and most analysts believe a second Trump administration would give Netanyahu more latitude in handling the Gaza war.
Netanyahu and Trump were largely aligned ideologically and politically during Trump’s 2017-21 term. The United States then moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a long-standing conservative goal that delighted Israelis and angered Palestinians.
Trump criticized Netanyahu for security failures following Hamas’ deadly cross-border attack on Israel on October 7, and said Israel must quickly secure the release of hostages held by Hamas and end the war in Gaza.
In his social media post, Trump praised Netanyahu’s role in the Abraham Accords, historic US-brokered agreements signed during the Trump years that normalized bilateral relations between Israel and both Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
“During my first term, we had peace and stability in the region, up until the signing of the historic Abraham Accords — and we will have it again,” Trump said in an interview with Truth Social TV.
He said Harris, as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, was “in no way capable of stopping” global conflicts.