US President Barack Obama’s chief of staff on Wednesday invited the Israeli Prime Minister to the White House next week, in a sign that strained relations between the two allies are beginning to thaw.
Rahm Emanuel, who was in Israel for a private visit, extended the invitation during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Officials in Mr Netanyahu’s office said the White House meeting would take place next Tuesday, after the Israeli leader wraps up a previously scheduled trip to Canada.
Mr Emanuel told reporters the talks would focus on security issues, a likely reference to the Iranian nuclear programme, as well as the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The President is “asking to extend an invitation to you to come visit him at the White House for a working meeting to discuss both our shared security interests as well as our close cooperation in seeking peace between Israel and its neighbours.” The meeting will give Mr Obama and Mr Netanyahu a chance to repair a relationship that has been strained since the two men took office in 2009.
Mr Obama gave Mr Netanyahu a cool reception during his last visit to Washington, even skipping the usual photograph session with reporters at the start of their March 23 meeting. Relations between the US and its top West Asia ally took a hit earlier that month when Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new homes in a Jewish neighbourhood in east Jerusalem during a visit by vice-president Joe Biden. The announcement infuriated the US and temporarily derailed plans to restart peace talks under American mediation.