While it was anticipated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would make a surprise visit to Washington this week, American circles were preoccupied with President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the presidential race, overshadowing Netanyahu’s visit significantly.
Low-Key Activities Maintain Momentum
Upon his arrival in the U.S. capital, Netanyahu maintained a low level of activity, marked by a series of small meetings during the first twenty-four hours with families of prisoners held by Hamas since October 7.
Netanyahu assured attendees that progress had been made in negotiating the exchange of the remaining 120 prisoners as part of the ceasefire agreement. However, he defended the delays to secure better terms, according to his statement. At the meeting, Netanyahu stated that the exchange process would not occur in one go, expressing regret over this announcement, as per “The Times of Israel”. He clarified that the agreement would take place in stages, but he believed that Israel would be able to move forward with the deal and maintain the leverage that could lead to the release of others, he claimed.
Some family members present in the room were brought by Netanyahu himself to Washington on his official plane. Nevertheless, Netanyahu cautioned that the path to reaching the agreement would be through continuing to apply pressure on Hamas, even as some prisoner families urged Netanyahu to finalize the deal as quickly as possible.
While others pressured the Biden administration to push Netanyahu to complete the deal.
Despite this, Netanyahu remained steadfast in his stance, stating: “I am not prepared to concede victory over Hamas under any circumstances. If we concede, we will be at risk from the entire Iranian axis of evil.” One day after his trip, Netanyahu did not meet any American officials publicly, but his meeting with Biden, recovering from COVID-19, was postponed to Thursday.
Speech and Meetings
It was noted that Netanyahu was scheduled to meet with leaders of the Christian community in the United States on Tuesday, followed by a meeting with local Jewish community leaders, according to his office. Amid political uncertainty, dozens of Democratic legislators planned to boycott Netanyahu’s Wednesday afternoon speech before Congress.
Harris would not attend, her aide mentioned, due to a scheduling conflict. According to his announced schedule, Netanyahu will meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer before the speech. Analysts believed that Netanyahu might rely on the war to divert attention from the political difficulties he faced or might delay reaching an agreement until the internal turmoil in the United States ended and the next president was selected
