US president-elect’s White House transition team has been “aggressively” pursuing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attend the inauguration ceremony in Washington, DC later this month, the New York Post reported on Sunday.
“There’s a plan for Trump to meet with Netanyahu,” a source close to the transition team said, according to the paper.
“They’re talking all the time. And Netanyahu is talking about possibly going to the inauguration,” the source was quoted as saying.
The report said Trump staffers, led by son-in-law Jared Kushner, were “aggressively courting” the Israeli prime minister in an effort to persuade him to attend the January 20 ceremony.
Netanyahu’s tense relationship with outgoing US President Barack Obama was exacerbated in recent weeks, after the White House publicly clashed with Israel over its West Bank policy and later declined to veto a UN Security Council resolution condemning settlements.
Trump has assured Israel that things will be different after he takes office, and last week lamented that the Jewish state was “being treated very, very unfairly” by the international community.
Speaking to reporters outside his Mar-a-Lago estate on Thursday, Trump lambasted the UN for condemning Israel, saying that “horrible places, that treat people horribly, haven’t even been reprimanded” by the international body.
He refused to directly answer specific questions regarding Israeli policies, but Trump called himself “very, very strong on Israel.”
On Saturday evening, Trump told reporters Israel is “very, very important” to him.“Look, we have to protect Israel, Israel to me is very very important, we have to protect Israel, and I disagree with what he’s done with Israel,” Trump said, referring to Obama. “I listened to Secretary Kerry’s speech, I think it’s very unfair to Israel, what happened.”
After the US abstained from last week’s Security Council vote on Resolution 2334, thus allowing the anti-settlement resolution to pass, Trump lashed out at the Obama administration for treating Israel with “with such total disdain and disrespect.”
Taking to his preferred medium of Twitter, the Republican president-elect urged Israel to “stay strong,” as January 20, Inauguration Day, “is fast approaching!”
Trump also implied that under Obama, the US was no longer “a great friend” to the Jewish state.
Netanyahu responded in kind, thanking Trump for his “warm friendship and your clear-cut support.”
The prime minister has said that he looks forward to working with Trump, his administration and the US Congress to reverse the Security Council resolution.

January 2, 2017 at 12:53 AM
Nice thought, and a wonderful idea but, in today’s liberal, hate-filled agenda, do we really want the most logical, law abiding nation-heads in the same proximity as potential targets?
Maybe for the first State of the Union Address but not right now.
January 2, 2017 at 3:50 PM
I see your point .
January 2, 2017 at 4:25 PM
We must be stronger than them….
January 2, 2017 at 4:57 PM
I agree with the idea of Netanyahu attending Trump´s inauguration.
It will send a clear message and proof, as the previous reply has stated, that we are stronger.
Right from the beginning. And drawing a clear line.