Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he would be willing to meet with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) when the governor makes his trip to Israel, which is expected this week as DeSantis makes his domestic and international rounds ahead of an expected White House campaign.
“Of course, I’ll meet with everyone, why not?” Netanyahu said on CBS’s “Face The Nation” when asked if he would meet with DeSantis. “I meet with Republican governors and Democratic governors. I’m not avoiding the question and actually I’m rushing right into it. I’d meet with every American representative, governor, senator, members of Congress.”
DeSantis’s second trip to Israel comes as the country has faced both interior and external turmoil. Netanyahu has been sharply criticized for a judicial reform package he has put forward, which would give lawmakers the ability to override Supreme Court decisions — a proposal he has temporarily halted. Israel has also seen escalating violence, with rockets launched at it from Syria earlier this month, according to its military.
The trip, during which DeSantis is expected to headline an event on Thursday, also comes as the governor has made his trips through a number of early nominating states in the Republican primary process, signaling he may be ready to announce a presidential campaign soon.
While DeSantis has risen in the Republican Party because of his time as the governor of Florida, the Israel trip gives him the opportunity to sharpen up his foreign policy credentials.
It also comes at a time that the relationship between Netanyahu and President Biden has frayed, with Biden saying he would not invite the prime minister to the White House in the “near term” over the judicial reform package and Netanyahu arguing the U.S. was attempting to intervene in his country’s domestic politics.