The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
– ‘Prestige problem’ –
Netanyahu may not be troubled by any such delay.
He appears more interested in speaking with Trump about other issues, such as Israel’s arch-enemy Iran and its influence in neighbouring Syria.
He will likely seek to further push his case that the Iran nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers should be changed, said Zalman Shoval, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington.
“Israel, I think, is hoping that there will be a more active American role in trying to block, trying to stem, the Iranian advances in Syria,” Shoval said.
Beyond his meeting with Trump, Netanyahu will address a conference organised by powerful pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC during his trip after having done so by satellite link the last two years.
The speech, expected on Tuesday, comes as Netanyahu faces what some in Israel see as an important concern: a growing divide between Republicans and Democrats over support for his country, according to at least one recent poll.
The United States remains by far Israel’s most important ally, providing it with more than $3 billion per year in defence aid and key diplomatic backing.
But poll results released in January by the US-based Pew Research Centre showed 79 percent of Republicans sympathise more with Israel than the Palestinians, while 27 percent of Democrats said the same.
Although Netanyahu may want to avoid talk about the Palestinians during his trip, the decades-long conflict is certain to be on the agenda.
Trump has spoken of wanting to reach the elusive Israeli-Palestinian deal that repeated US presidents have been unable to achieve.
At the same time, many analysts have trouble seeing how progress can be made with the Palestinians angered and a pressured Netanyahu playing to his right-wing base — not to mention Kushner no longer able to access America’s most closely guarded secrets.
Aaron David Miller, a former US Middle East negotiator now with the Wilson Centre think-tank, said Kushner faces a “prestige problem”, but that may make little difference.
“The Arab-Israeli peace process right now is so fraught, so challenged, so burdened with complexity and problems that Jared Kushner could have access to every piece of classified information in the world,” he said.
