Obama and Netanyahu are meeting Monday for first time since Iran deal

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet in 2013

(Image credit: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

published 9 November 2015

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed in Washington, D.C., early Monday for his first talks with President Obama in 13 months. Notably, the two leaders haven't met face to face since the U.S. signed a nuclear deal with Iran that Netanyahu strenuously and publicly opposed. Obama will nudge Netanyahu to commit to, or at least not make impossible, a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, even though Obama has signaled he has no hopes of brokering a peace agreement before he leaves office. Before leaving Israel, Netanyahu told his cabinet he and Obama would discuss "possible progress with the Palestinians, or at least, stabilizing the situation when it comes to them."

Netanyahu's main goal, he told his cabinet, is working toward a new security deal with the U.S. Israel, which gets $3.1 billion a year in U.S. aid, is asking for $50 billion over 10 years, Reuters says, adding that "one U.S. official predicted the sides would settle for an annual sum of $4 billion to $5 billion." Obama and Netanyahu have a famously not very warm history, and Netanyahu just tapped as his spokesman Ran Baratz, a conservative commentator who has spoken dismissively of Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry. You can watch Netanyahu lay out his goals for the meeting in the video below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.