Trump Announces Possible Attendance at Opening Ceremony of U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem

Donald Trump, the President of the United States, on Monday, March 5, during a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel in Washington, stated that he is considering traveling to Israel personally for the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. Mr. Trump, in this meeting which was his fifth with Mr. Netanyahu in the past year, said, "The Palestinians have not been able to solve the Jerusalem issue, and the U.S. has set this matter aside." Mr. Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on December 6; U.S. officials recently announced that the embassy will be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 8, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment. According to live television broadcasts of the White House meeting, the U.S. President also stated at the beginning of the meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister in front of reporters that the U.S. "is working hard to implement the political peace initiative for Israel and the Palestinians, but if the Palestinians do not return to negotiations, there will be no peace." According to the U.S. President, "Everyone has always said that peace between Israel and the Palestinians is the hardest agreement to reach. This conflict has continued for many years and is caused by various issues, and it is not just about territories, but if we can achieve peace, it will be a great achievement for the whole world, for America, and for everyone." Mr. Netanyahu, a day before his meeting with Mr. Trump, discussed the Washington administration's political initiative for peace between Israel and the Palestinians with Jared Kushner, the senior advisor to the U.S. President in Washington. Josh Raffel, a White House official, stated two weeks ago that Jared Kushner and his team are in the process of "finalizing" the U.S. political initiative. While Mr. Trump spoke about his administration's efforts to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace during his meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, stated a day earlier at a Fatah leaders' meeting in Ramallah that the Palestinians no longer accept the U.S. as a peace mediator, and according to him, the American initiative is "tailored to Israel's demands." The U.S. President and the Israeli Prime Minister referred to their bilateral relations at the beginning of their meeting at the White House as "better than ever." Mr. Netanyahu told Mr. Trump, "The people of Israel see your stance against Iran, your support for Israel, and your position at the United Nations;... and they appreciate this friendship and support." Benjamin Netanyahu also mentioned that he looks forward to his private discussions with Mr. Trump "on the major challenges in the Middle East and improving the situation of Arab neighbors against Iran," adding, "Iran's nuclear ambitions continue despite the nuclear agreement, and Iran is currently at our borders; Iran must be contained." According to the Israeli Prime Minister, due to the Iranian challenge, "the Arab world has never been closer to Israel than it is now." According to Ynet, Mr. Netanyahu expresses Israel's concerns about the consolidation of Iran's military presence in Syria and the insufficient U.S. intervention to contain Iran in Syria during his private meeting with Donald Trump and also in his meetings with congressional leaders, as well as Israel's position regarding limiting the range of Iranian missiles to three hundred kilometers. On Tuesday, Benjamin Netanyahu will also speak before 18,000 attendees at this year's AIPAC conference, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has been ongoing in Washington since Sunday, regarding Iran and peace with the Palestinians. According to Ynet, AIPAC supports the expansion of sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in this year's meeting. The U.S., which has stated that it no longer certifies the nuclear agreement with Iran, has given its European allies a deadline until May 8 to fundamentally change the terms of the JCPOA; Israel, which fundamentally seeks the complete cancellation of the JCPOA, has supported this tough U.S. stance against Iran. Netanyahu's meeting with Trump at the White House occurred while Israeli media extensively covered the expansion of police investigations into him, his wife, and his close associates and advisors. Hours before the White House meeting began, Nir Hefetz, a former advisor to Mr. Netanyahu, who has been in Israeli police custody for two weeks, signed an agreement with the police under which, in exchange for not being prosecuted, he becomes a "state witness" against the Prime Minister and his wife in a case known as "Case 4000." Mr. Hefetz is the third senior official close to Mr. Netanyahu who has become a "state witness" against the Prime Minister in recent weeks by signing an agreement with the police. Mr. Netanyahu, who was interrogated for the eighth time as a "suspect" by investigators from the Israeli police's anti-corruption unit a day before flying to America, has emphasized that he has committed no wrongdoing and that the investigations will lead nowhere. Simultaneously with this interrogation, Mr. Netanyahu's wife has also been separately interrogated as a "suspect."