The Prime Minister’s Office has proposed to the White House that the meeting between Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump be held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where the president will spend his end-of-year vacation. The proposal follows Trump’s formal invitation to Netanyahu on Monday.
Netanyahu and the Israeli side suggested a date around December 28, but officials believe the president’s team will not want to schedule the visit then, as it would require staff to work during the holiday period instead of being with their families.
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US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House
(Photo: Avi Ohayon/GPO)
The Americans, for their part, proposed moving the meeting up by roughly a week, to December 20, before the holiday break. Jerusalem, however, is less interested in those dates. In any case, Israel is now awaiting Washington’s reply. Another option under consideration is early January.
If the meeting does take place at Mar-a-Lago, the Netanyahus will not stay at the estate itself but elsewhere in the area. Netanyahu’s son Yair has been living in Florida for more than two years. Holding the meeting at Trump’s private estate rather than in Washington also aligns with reports that Sara Netanyahu intends to visit her son in Miami. It is still unclear whether the meeting will be held there, or whether the prime minister’s wife will fly to Miami on the official Wing of Zion aircraft and remain there afterward.
Netanyahu is expected to travel on the prime minister’s plane, as usual, but it is not yet known whether he will again opt to leave the press behind. During his previous trip — to the UN General Assembly, followed by his historic White House meeting at which Trump unveiled his plan to end the war — the Prime Minister’s Office made the unusual decision not to bring journalists on the flight, forcing reporters to travel independently.
Herzog to arrive in New York
Before Netanyahu’s visit — the timing and location of which remain unsettled — President Isaac Herzog will depart Sunday for a two-day trip to New York, returning to Israel on December 8. Herzog has been invited to deliver the keynote speech at an event marking the 100th anniversary of Yeshiva University, one of the most important Jewish academic institutions in the world.
As part of the event, the president will receive an honorary doctorate. Herzog will also serve as the central guest of honor at the jubilee conference of the American Zionist Movement (AZM), the umbrella organization for U.S. Zionist groups. Against the backdrop of the recent New York City mayoral election — won by Zohran Mamdani — and the rise in antisemitic incidents from both the right and left in the United States, Herzog is expected to address the challenges facing American Jewry.
He will also hold meetings with key opinion leaders, members of Congress and local senators, as well as presidents of leading American universities. It is not yet known whether, during his visit, he will meet with members of the U.S. administration amid the pardon request Netanyahu submitted to him last week and the pressure Trump has exerted on the matter.