Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet U.S. President Donald Trump early in February although a date has not yet been set. Israeli officials say the meeting is important and the two nations would attempt to agree on a number of burning issues including the threat from Iran.
Trump does not want to see an Israeli military strike but is willing to impose sever sanctions on Tehran while in Jerusalem, the officials said the sanctions must come with a credible threat of military action.
Netanyahu’s visit will coincide with the start of negotiations for the second phase of the cease-fire deal in Gaza. Trump has said he agrees that Hamas must not remain as the rulers in the Strip but had also said he wants to see the agreement fulfilled in full rather than a resumption of the war if the talks fail.
The officials said Trump would urge Netanyahu to continue talks, using the Saudi deal as an incentive. Trump envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Riyadh in the near future to finalize the details of the normalization deal.
The United States is working on a normalization package that includes other Muslim states as well, such as Malaysia and Oman. The Americans believe that normalization of ties with the Saudis would make it easier for Netanyahu to convince the more extremist elements in his government to agree to the second phase of the cease-fire deal.