Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left for Florida on Sunday, beginning a brief visit that will include a meeting with President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort, according to his office.
The meeting, set for Monday, underscores the enduring political alliance between the leaders.
Mr Netanyahu has made frequent trips to the US this year – this will be his fifth – as his government continues to co-ordinate with the Trump administration on regional security, Iran policy and the future of Gaza.
While the Trump administration is keen for progress on Gaza, analysts said the prospect of Iran rebuilding its nuclear programme and ballistic missile capabilities is likely to dominate Mr Netanyahu’s agenda.
Washington and its regional allies have been pushing for phase two of the Gaza ceasefire agreement brokered in October to move ahead. But progress has been slow, with both Israel and Hamas accusing each other of breaking the truce, raising fears among mediators that both sides are stalling.
“Netanyahu will come to the summit with an agenda emphasising Iran. This has two reasons: to divert attention away from phase two of the plan for Gaza; and because Israel will ask for a massive aid package for more anti-rocket systems and funding for more rockets from Israel’s military industries,” Gershon Baskin, co-head of the Alliance for Two States, who has engaged in back-channel talks with Hamas, told The National.
Karim Bitar, former dean at Lebanon’s Universite Saint-Joseph and lecturer in Middle East Studies at Sciences Po Paris, said the Israeli leader is likely to revive his long-held argument that the US and its partners should “actively foment unrest inside Iran” and supplement it with military pressure to weaken the regime.
“Netanyahu understands Trump’s psychology remarkably well, and he will likely tailor his message accordingly,” Mr Bitar said.
He added that some Israeli officials continue to back efforts to rehabilitate the family of the former shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and promote a restoration, aided by social media campaigns portraying the exiled crown prince as a viable alternative to the Islamic republic.
Yet while an majority of Iranians reject the current regime, it is far from clear that they want to replace an Islamist authoritarian system with an unpopular US-Israeli supported authoritarian system,” Mr Bitar told The National.
Tensions flared in June after Israel attacked Iranian military and nuclear facilities, as well as in residential areas, prompting a fierce response from Tehran.
Iran launched drone and missile barrages into Israeli territory, and as the 12-day confrontation intensified, the US joined Israel in bombing Iranian nuclear sites.
On Sunday, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that the conflict had expanded far beyond a limited exchange.
“In my opinion, we are at a full-scale war with the US, Israel and Europe. They want to bring our country to its knees,” he said in comments published by the official website of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
On Gaza, Mr Baskin said the Israeli leader is expected to resist American pressure for additional troop withdrawals.
“Netanyahu will oppose any further redeployment of Israeli forces closer to the Israeli border,” he said. “He will claim that Israel needs to maintain its ability to control all aspects of security in Gaza and to have freedom to act – granted by President Trump.”
Under the next stages of the agreement, Israeli forces are expected to pull back from positions inside Gaza while an interim governance body, not affiliated with Hamas, assumes control.
An international stabilisation force would also be formed, and Hamas would be required to lay down its weapons, a demand seen as a major sticking point.
But Mr Baskin cautioned that Mr Netanyahu’s stance is at odds with the framework Washington has laid out.
“There is no phase two without further Israeli withdrawals in Gaza,” he said.
“Netanyahu needs to understand that phase two is based on Israel withdrawing to a new line and that eventually, and not too far in the distance, Israel will be required to withdraw behind the international border.”
