Possible Trump-Netanyahu Meeting Being Discussed for Next Week

The White House and Netanyahu’s office are discussing a possible Oval Office meeting next week, though no date has been set, as Trump weighs whether to resume wider combat operations against Iran alongside Israel.

Talks are underway between the White House and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office about a possible sit-down between President Trump and the Israeli leader sometime next week. That’s according to Axios, which cited a White House official and an Israeli source with knowledge of the discussions. As of now, though, nothing is locked in and no date has been confirmed.

This isn’t the first time a meeting has been floated recently. Netanyahu had actually requested time with Trump last week but wasn’t given an appointment. He ended up pushing back his Washington trip after the wake for the late Senator Lindsey Graham was postponed. Now Netanyahu is expected to travel to the U.S. capital anyway, this time to attend Graham’s funeral events, which include a ceremony on Capitol Hill and another at the National Cathedral on Tuesday.

Israeli officials have said to the publication that they are getting ready for the possibility that the conflict could widen into a full, coordinated campaign within a matter of days. At the same time, they’ve been clear that Israel won’t jump into that kind of expanded war on its own. Their involvement, they say, would only happen if Iran strikes first or if the United States specifically asks Israel to join.