Trump to meet Israeli PM Netanyahu in Florida on Friday

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday at his resort in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump said, a sign the two men are looking to ease tensions between them.

"At the request of Bibi Netanyahu, we have switched this meeting to Friday, July 26th at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida!" the former US President said in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, using Netanyahu's nickname.

He initially posted that the meeting would be Wednesday, then said Thursday before settling on Friday.

"Looking forward to welcoming Bibi Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida," he said.

Netanyahu requested an in-person meeting with Trump during his visit to Washington this week, Politico said, on Monday.

In a speech on Wednesday, Netanyahu will seek the renewed support of Congress for Israel's ongoing war in the Palestinian enclave.

This week, he will also meet President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who entered the 2024 presidential race after Biden pulled out on Sunday.

The Israeli PM appears to be hedging his bets about the November US election.

Up and down ties

The meeting will be their first since the end of Trump's presidency, during which the two forged good ties, and comes at a time of strains also between Netanyahu and Democratic President Joe Biden over Israel's genocide in besieged Gaza.

The US moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem during Trump's term, a long-held conservative goal that delighted Israelis and infuriated Palestinians.

In his social media post, Trump praised Netanyahu's role in the Abraham Accords, a US-brokered agreement signed during the Trump years that normalised bilateral relations between Israel and both Bahrain as well as the United Arab Emirates.

"During my first term, we had Peace and Stability in the Region, even signing the historic Abraham Accords - And we will have it again," Trump said in his Truth Social post.

He said Harris, as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, was "in no way capable of stopping" world conflicts.

Ties started to sour between the former US president and Israeli PM, however, after Netanyahu congratulated Biden on his victory over Trump in the 2020 election, which Trump long claimed was stolen.

Trump also criticised Netanyahu for the security failures on October 7 and has said Israel must quickly secure the release of hostages taken by Hamas and finish the war in Gaza.