Netanyahu to Meet Clinton and Trump One Day Before First U.S. Election Debate

Israeli and American media have reported that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, will meet with both Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, and Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, on Sunday, October 4, just 24 hours before the first televised debate between the two main candidates for the U.S. presidency. Netanyahu's separate meetings with Trump and Clinton will take place in New York during his attendance at the United Nations. Offices of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have confirmed the meeting on Sunday. It was previously announced that Netanyahu did not intend to meet with any of the four presidential candidates during his trip to New York. During this election cycle, Netanyahu has not made any statements that could be interpreted as implicit support for either of the two main candidates. In this regard, Ofir Akunis, Israel's Minister of Science and Technology, stated to the media on Thursday that Israel should refrain from 'any interference in the U.S. elections this time.' This Likud party minister noted that 'previous interferences have been detrimental to Israel.' At that time, Democrats interpreted Netanyahu's close relationship with Mitt Romney, Barack Obama's rival, as 'interference' by the Israeli Prime Minister in favor of the Republican candidate. Barack Obama had a cold and sometimes tense relationship with Netanyahu during his eight years in office, and last Thursday, in his seventeenth and final meeting with Netanyahu, he reiterated explicit criticisms of Israel regarding illegal construction in the occupied Palestinian territories during a speech at the United Nations General Assembly. Donald Trump has praised Netanyahu's policies in his campaign, both in terms of 'building walls' and commending the 'decisiveness' and 'successes of Israel' in combating terrorism and early identification of Muslims who may pose a 'security threat.' He has stated that if he becomes president, he will model his policies on these two areas of Israel's approach. Mr. Trump compared the construction of a 'very, very tall wall' on the U.S.-Mexico border to the 'successfully applied' wall that Israel has built with the Palestinian territories. He also stated that U.S. intelligence and security agencies should identify 'Muslims who may even pose a potential threat to America in the future' in advance, and until then, 'the entry of Muslims from problematic countries into America should be banned.' In contrast, Trump's position that large sums of money given to Israel should be in the form of loans and that Israel should return this money to America led Israel to sign a $38 billion military aid agreement with the U.S. ten days ago. In this context, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham stated that the Israeli government should have waited until after the elections to sign this agreement, as both the Republican and Democratic parties agree that the amount of aid should exceed $38 billion. Several world leaders met with U.S. election candidates during their presence at the United Nations General Assembly, including Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Nevertheless, Netanyahu's meetings with the two candidates could have different effects due to his 'deep influence' on Congress and the American political scene. According to the Jerusalem Post, the majority of American Jews will traditionally vote in favor of the Democratic candidates in this election cycle. The Jerusalem Post also claims that 95% of donations from wealthy American Jewish donors in this election cycle have been given to Mrs. Clinton's campaign, while only five percent have been injected into Trump's campaign. Previously, Sheldon Adelson, an American billionaire and close friend and main supporter of Netanyahu, who owns several casinos in America, pledged a $100 million donation to Trump.