Netanyahu is in Washington at a fraught time for Israel and the US. What to know about his visit

WASHINGTON — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington this week is drawing closer like a loaded between the two allies, at a time of extreme political unrest in the United States and caution among American leaders about Netanyahu’s history of self-insertion in US domestic politics.

The main purpose of Netanyahu’s visit is to address a joint session of Congress. But at stake in meetings with administration officials are hopes for progress in U.S.-led efforts to mediate an end to the nine-month war between Israel and Hamas. The visit comes as the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza approaches 40,000. It also comes in a week that has seen new deaths among surviving hostages — including Israelis, Americans and other nationalities — held by Hamas and other militants since the first hours of the war.

Netanyahu planned his trip weeks before the ground beneath American politics began to shake abruptly this summer, including a July 13 assassination attempt against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and President Joe Biden’s decision Sunday to abandon his floundering reelection campaign and instead endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

Protests are planned for Netanyahu’s speech to both houses of Congress on Wednesday.

A look at the visit:

The political aspect for Netanyahu is that his popularity at home has declined and the visit — at least initially — was seen as an opportunity to showcase himself as a global statesman, welcomed by the lawmakers and leaders of Israel’s closest ally and the world’s only superpower.

House Speaker Mike Johnson helped craft Netanyahu’s speech to lawmakersunderscoring the solid Republican support for the Israeli leader. Netanyahu has tense relations with Biden, despite the administration’s military and diplomatic support for Israel’s war.

Biden and Netanyahu are expected to meet on Thursday, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity ahead of the White House announcement. Harris will meet separately with Netanyahu. It was unclear Monday whether he would meet with Trump.

Speaking on behalf of the White House, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said last week at a security conference in Colorado that Biden plans to focus in the coming weeks on figuring out what it will take to get the United States, Israel and other countries to reach an agreement on the release of hostages and a ceasefire.

Biden convened a meeting of campaign staff on Monday and told them, “I think we’re on the cusp” of ending the war.

Netanyahu, for his part, pointed to longer-term issues before leaving Israel on Monday, saying he wanted to talk to Biden about continuing the war against Hamas, confronting other Iranian-backed armed groups in the region, and freeing hostages.

Israel’s war has deeply divided the United States, sparking protests and arrests on college campuses. It has alienated voters on both sides of the issue. And it has frustrated Biden’s months-long efforts to end the fighting.

The trip is Netanyahu’s first abroad since the war broke out on Oct. 7. It is also the first time since the International Criminal Court said it wanted his arrest for what it called possible war crimes in Israel’s offensive on Gaza. Israel denies wrongdoing and the U.S. does not recognize the ICC.

Netanyahu is facing complaints in Israel that he… avoiding the conclusion of a ceasefire and an agreement for the release of hostages to stay in power, an accusation repeated Monday by a relative of a hostage.

Netanyahu also did not shy away from criticizing Democratic governments, including Biden’sIn 2015, the Israeli leader used a speech to both houses of Congress to try torpedo lawmakers’ and the people’s support for President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, denouncing it as a bad and dangerous deal, angering administration officials.

Sullivan said officials do not expect this week to be a repeat of 2015.

Things are looking bleak. Even as Netanyahu headed to Washington on Monday, American politics and voters were still adjusting to the abrupt shift in focus from Biden to Harris in the Democratic presidential race. Biden was still in Delaware recovering from COVID-19.

Harris is expected to be absent on Wednesday for a trip to Indianapolis that she had planned before becoming the leading Democratic presidential candidate this weekend.

Biden plans to meet with Netanyahu this week, according to a person familiar with his schedule who was not authorized to comment publicly. The exact timing is unclear. Harris also plans to meet with Netanyahu this week, the White House said.

Israeli media reported that Netanyahu had also requested a meeting with Trump, but there was no direct word of it. Trump has a mixed relationship with Netanyahu, including cursing him for what Trump portrayed as Netanyahu’s quick recognition of Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.

Netanyahu’s joint address to Congress will look slightly different from previous speeches, in part because of opposition among Democrats to his handling of the war in Gaza.

Harris, as Senate president, normally sits behind the foreign leaders, but she will be gone. Senate Pro Tempore Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, is next in line to fill that seat, but she said she was among the lawmakers who declined to attend. Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Ben Cardin will sit there instead. He told The Associated Press he hoped Netanyahu would use the speech to outline a future for both Israelis and Palestinians.

While there are reports that the families of some of the hostages are traveling with Netanyahu, other family members critical of his handling of the crisis say they will also be in the room.

Some lawmakers who planned to boycott the speech said they would take time to talk to the families of those held by Hamas.

Multiple protests are planned outside the Capitol. Some will condemn the Israeli military campaign in general, while others will voice support for Israel and urge Netanyahu to call a ceasefire and bring hostages home.

The largest protest is planned for Wednesday morning, with organizers planning to march around the Capitol building demands Netanyahu’s arrest on charges of war crimes. A permit application filed with the National Park Service estimated at least 5,000 participants.

Smaller protests are planned for Tuesday night and throughout the day on Wednesday, including a prayer vigil outside Union Station near the Capitol. Families of Israeli hostages are planning a vigil on the National Mall.

A fence was erected around the hotel along the Potomac River where Netanyahu is staying, and uniformed security guards were stationed around employees and others in the hotel complex, part of tight security in Washington for the Israeli leader’s visit.

The Metropolitan Police Department has announced an expanded series street closures that will take most of the week.

The visit will serve as a high-profile test for the Secret Service, which handles the protection of visiting foreign leaders, as the agency’s chief was questioned by lawmakers Monday about what she acknowledged were serious security lapses in the earlier attack on Trump.

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Associated Press journalists Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller in Washington and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.