Netanyahu likely to meet with Obama in November, White House says

by Jordan Fabian - 09/11/15 1:13 PM ET

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will likely visit the White House in early November to meet with President Obama, the White House said Friday.

Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters he expects Obama and Netanyahu to meet “sometime in early November,” but that a final date has not been set.

{mosads}The meeting would mark the leaders’ first face-to-face encounter since the July finalization of the Iran nuclear deal — an accord Netanyahu has fiercely criticized.

The president spoke to Netanyahu by phone after the deal was reached and after the prime minister won reelection in March.

Earnest said those conversations represent the “depth of this president’s commitment to strengthening that security relationship.”

He added the two leaders would likely discuss a new 10-year agreement on U.S.-Israel security cooperation.

“We do think this meeting between the president and the prime minister and other meetings that will occur in the weeks and months ahead will include a discussion about deepening the security cooperation between the U.S. and Israel,” Earnest said.

Obama and Netanyahu have had a rocky relationship since both took office in 2009, but it reached a nadir in March when the Israeli leader blasted the Iran nuclear agreement in a speech to Congress.

The speech angered the White House, especially since Netanyahu’s government reportedly declined to inform the administration of its plans before it accepted an invitation from House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Obama did not meet with Netanyahu during his U.S. visit in March. Their last in-person meeting was in October 2014.

Obama and Netanyahu have also clashed over the prime minister’s pre-election declaration that he would not back the creation of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu later walked back his comments.

– Updated at 1:48 p.m.

Tags Barack Obama Benjamin Netanyahu