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What to expect during Benjamin Netanyahu’s first US trip since his return to office
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not shying away from controversy as he embarks on his first trip to the United States since his reelection last year.
Before he boarded the plane early on Monday, Netanyahu accused Israeli antigovernment protesters of “joining forces” with the country’s enemies. And he praised Elon Musk, the billionaire social media mogul who once again flirted with antisemitism on Sunday by accusing George Soros, the progressive Jewish megadonor, of seeking “the destruction of western civilization.”
Netanyahu will meet with Musk on Monday before he heads to the United Nations, where he will meet with President Joe Biden and later deliver an address to the General Assembly. The Biden meeting is one Netanyahu has sought for months, though it will take place at the U.N. and not at the White House. Biden had demurred on a White House meeting due to opposition to some of Netanyahu’s policies.
Throughout the five-day trip, during which he is also scheduled to meet with American Jewish leaders, Netanyahu is expected to meet a protest movement led by expatriate Israelis who oppose his efforts to weaken the Israeli judiciary.
In remarks at the airport, Netanyahu lumped those protesters in with Iran and the Palestine Liberation Organization, both of which are or have previously been Israel’s chief adversaries. He accused the protesters, who have already mounted demonstrations in the U.S. cities he plans to visit, of “joining forces with the PLO and Iran.”
Having to face Israeli protesters in the United States — a country where Netanyahu spent many of his early years and where he served as Israel’s United Nations ambassador — clearly irked him. “When they defame Israel before the nations of the world, it seems normal to them,” he said. “I don’t regard it as normal. When I was leader of the opposition, I never did that.”
Benny Gantz, the leader of the opposition centrist Blue and White Party, wrote on X, the social media network formerly known as Twitter, that likening the protesters to Israel’s enemies is “grave and must be thoroughly condemned.”
Later on Monday, Netanyahu’s office sought to walk back the comment, saying in a statement that when he “used the word ‘joining,’” he was referring to Israelis who will “be demonstrating at the same time as supporters of the PLO and BDS, which has never happened before.”
The protest movement, called UnXeptable, has projected images onto major U.S. landmarks accusing Netanyahu of seeking to overhaul the courts as a means of quashing his ongoing trial for corruption charges.
In San Francisco, where Netanyahu is set to meet Monday with Musk, the protesters projected an image of Netanyahu onto Alcatraz. the shuttered and notorious island prison, depicting him behind bars in an orange jumpsuit alongside a message reading, “Welcome Bibi.” In New York, protesters projected text onto the U.N. headquarters, reading, “Don’t believe Crime Minister Netanyahu.”
Netanyahu’s meeting with Musk on Monday is the first major item on his agenda, and will include an hourlong live conversation between the two on X, which Musk owns. The meeting comes after weeks during which Musk has attacked the Anti-Defamation League online for tanking the platform’s ad revenue, an accusation the ADL denies. Musk has threatened to sue the ADL for billions of dollars.
Musk has also repeatedly attacked Soros, the progressive philanthropist and frequent target of antisemitic conspiracies. On Sunday, Musk replied to a post that called the migrant crisis in Italy a “Soros-led invasion” — an echo of a pervasive antisemitic theory falsely claiming that Jews are seeking to replace majority-white countries with migrants of color.
“The Soros organization appears to want nothing less than the destruction of western civilization,” Musk replied. Earlier this year, Jewish groups condemned Musk for casting Soros as an all-controlling evildoer.
At the airport, Netanyahu described Musk as a pioneer, praising the tech entrepreneur’s pursuits in the field of artificial intelligence. The two had a phone conversation on that topic earlier this year.
“I will start this visit in California where I intend to meet the current leader of the most dramatic development in the new age and perhaps in general, Elon Musk,” he said. “I will discuss artificial intelligence with him and I will also work toward encouraging him to invest in Israel in the coming years. He is, to a large degree, paving the way that will change the face of humanity and also the face of the State of Israel. Israel needs to be a leader in artificial intelligence.”
On Wednesday, Netanyahu will meet with Biden. Biden has declined to invite the Israeli prime minister in part because he is concerned that Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul, which would dramatically reduce the independence of the courts, is a threat to Israeli democracy. Instead, Netanyahu and Biden will meet on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Netanyahu is scheduled to address the body on Friday morning.
Netanyahu has traditionally used his U.N. platform to condemn Iran and its nuclear plans. He pledged to do so again and listed the world leaders he would meet with, including Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He claimed that he was much in demand on the world stage.
“Unfortunately, I cannot meet with all the leaders who made requests but I hope to meet with most of them,” he said at the airport.
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The post What to expect during Benjamin Netanyahu’s first US trip since his return to office appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
The post Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
The post Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
The post Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.