Today (Thursday) an American delegation of 25 people is landing in Israel to discuss the details of President Trump’s upcoming visit to Israel. According to plan Trump will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel but he will also recognize the Palestinian nation.
This visit is assumed to be close to the time of the NATO summit in Brussels on May 25th either on May21st or after the summit before June. The visit is slated to be for one day and it will include the first lady Melania, daughter Ivanka and son in law Jared Kushner.
The expectation in Israel is that during the visit Trump will announce the moving of the US consulate to Jerusalem but nothing is certain yet. Some people estimate that Trump will declare his recognition that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and skip over discussion about moving the consulate saying the time is not yet right.
Another question is how to define the visit. Will it be a ‘State Visit’ or a ‘Working Visit’? What’s the difference? One difference is a State Visit is hosted by President Reuven Rivlin whereas a Working Visit is hosted by Prime Minister Netanyahu. Another difference is that if President Trump will speak in the Knesset it must be a State Visit and he will also be asked to visit Yad Vashem as part of State Visit protocol though visiting Yad Vashem can also happen on a Working Visit.
The delegation that’s coming today will also discuss the upcoming visits of state Secretary Rex Tillerson and American UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Trump’s upcoming visit came about from the personal invitation Prime Minister Netanyahu gave him when visiting the White House in February. He asked Trump to visit as a show of friendship to Israel.