Benjamin Netanyahu to Meet With Obama Next Month
President Barack Obama will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu early March, Obama’s office announced earlier today.
The visit, amid growing concerns from the international community over Iran’s controversial nuclear program, will take place on March 5. The meeting was arranged during a three-day trip to Israel by national security adviser Tom Donilon, the White House said.
Netanyahu’s office said earlier in the month that a meeting between the Israeli Prime Minister and President Obama was scheduled to take place next month, but the talks–and the date–weren’t confirmed until today.
“Mr Donilon relayed to Prime Minister Netanyahu that the president looks forward to meeting with him at the White House on March 5,” the White House said in a statement.
The White House said in its statement that Donilon discussed “the full range” of security concerns with Netanyahu, and that the visit is “part of the continuous and intensive dialogue between the United States and Israel and reflects our unshakable commitment to Israel’s security.”
The visit between Netanyahu and Obama comes after so-called “exploratory talks” between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, and growing concern that Israel could be planning to attack Iran–a move that Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaking in a recent television broadcast, said would be “destabilizing.”
via Bloomberg