ISRAEL — (CNN) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House on February 15, White House press secretary Sean Spicer announced Monday.
The White House confirmed it had extended an invitation to Netanyahu last week.
A senior administration official said last week that moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem remains a priority for the president but cautioned that it would not be happen quickly.
Netanyahu’s last visit to the United States, in March 2015, was for a polarizing speech to Congress that more than 50 Democrats boycotted. Obama’s National Security Adviser Susan Rice said at the time that his decision to speak was “destructive to the fabric of the relationship” between Israel and the US.
But Trump has emerged as a powerful backer of Netanyahu, who has angered liberals in the US with his push for new Israel settlements. Netanyahu and his allies would be elated if Trump moved the embassy, and the Israeli leader in recent days has even backed Trump’s plan in the US for a border wall with Mexico.
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