Netanyahu to meet Trump amid growing pressures in US, Israel

Administration Netanyahu to meet Trump amid growing pressures in US, Israel Comments: by Sarah Davis - 07/28/26 8:00 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Sarah Davis - 07/28/26 8:00 AM ET Comments: Link copied

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President Trump will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday for the first time since Israel and the U.S. launched joint strikes on Iran at the end of February.

Netanyahu called the meeting a “great honor” and a “great responsibility” in a statement shared on social media on Monday. The Israeli leader said that the issue of the ongoing Iran war would be “at the forefront” of their discussion.

“Our goal is clear: to safeguard Israel’s security, strengthen its power, and expand the circle of peace around us,” he wrote. “I am embarking on this mission out of a deep commitment to ensure the security, strength, and future of the State of Israel.”

Trump in recent days paused strikes in Iran, with the administration saying it is giving the conflict “a little bit of room” for potential negotiations — though concerns around the U.S. weapons stockpile have also risen. Despite the halt, the president warned the military is prepared to resume attacks if necessary.

The Israeli prime minister is in town for the funeral services honoring his longtime ally, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Graham will be honored in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday with ceremonies at the U.S. Capitol and the Washington National Cathedral, before services in his home state of South Carolina on Wednesday.

Netanyahu called Graham “a true friend of mine and the State of Israel” in his Monday statement. The late senator was a foreign policy hawk and a staunch advocate for Israel during his time in public office.

Trump has recently defended Netanyahu against calls from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for the Israeli leader’s arrest. The city official cited the International Criminal Court’s warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest and called him a “war criminal.”

Mamdani later stated that he does not have the official power to detain him during his visit to the city for the UN General Assembly in the fall, but he said federal officials do.

The president has brushed off this threat, writing on Truth Social that Netanyahu would “not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America.”

“He is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors, and has spent the last 47 years killing American Soldiers, and others,” Trump continued. “The only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented SPIRAL OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, something that should have been dealt with years ago, by previous Presidents!”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) also floated detaining Netanyahu over the weekend.

The president will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is in town for Graham’s memorial services as well, on Tuesday. Zelensky was one of the last people that the late senator met with before he died earlier this month from an aortic dissection at 71 years old.

Every U.S. senator has been invited to attend a meeting with the Ukrainian leader on Tuesday evening as the Senate considers one of Graham’s final legislative goals: imposing harsher sanctions on Russia and its trading partners in response to the country’s persistent aggression against Ukraine.

Zelensky shared on social platform X early Tuesday that he had arrived in the U.S. and that his “number-one priority” with this visit was strengthening Ukraine’s and its anti-ballistic defense capabilities and its relationship with America.

“Of course, on behalf of all of Ukraine, we will honor the memory of Senator Lindsey Graham,” the Ukrainian leader wrote. “Together with everyone attending the ceremony in Washington, we will remember his commitment to security and freedom across the transatlantic community and around the world.”