Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boarded the Wing of Tzion plane early Sunday morning to fly to Washington for his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

Netanyahu, who underwent surgery a little over a month ago, was accompanied on his trip by a top cardiologist and a urologist, along with, Brig.-Gen. Gal Hirsch, Israel’s Coordinator for Captives and Missing Persons; Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer; Foreign Policy Adviser Ophir Falk; Military Secretary Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman; Caroline Glick, who was recently appointed as an advisor on international relations, and other senior aides.

Before boarding, Netanyahu spoke to the press in Hebrew and English, saying: “I am now leaving for Washington for a very important meeting with President Trump. The fact that this will be President Trump’s first meeting with a foreign leader since his inauguration is telling. I think it’s a testimony to the strength of the Israeli-American alliance. It’s also a testimony to the strength of our personal friendship. That friendship and that cooperation has already yielded important results for Israel and the Middle East, including the historic Abraham Accords that President Trump led and brought four important peace treaties between Israel and its Arab neighbors.”

In his remarks in Hebrew, Netanyahu ended his comments with “B’ezrat Hashem we’ll do and B’ezrat Hashem we’ll succeed.”

Netanyahu continued by saying that he expects that his meeting with Trump will focus on “victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages, and dealing with the Iranian terror axis and all its components.”

“The decisions we’ve made in the war have already changed the face of the Middle East. Our decisions and the courage of our soldiers have redrawn the map. But I believe that working closely with President Trump, we can redraw it even further, and for the better.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)