PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Israeli prime minister arrives in Palm Beach Friday for his meeting with former President Donald Trump.
While Trump will welcome Benjamin Netanyahu to South Florida, not everyone is on board with the visit.
Netanyahu told Congress on Wednesday that he's trying to achieve “total victory” against Hamas.
It's a message he will likely reiterate during his visit with Trump on Friday.
“We hope that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s message comes through and effects and strengthens to get America’s full support — unequivocal support,” said Rabbi Shlomo Uminer of Chabad Jewish Center of Martin & St. Lucie County.
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While Rabbi Uminer believes Netanyahu’s discussions are crucial, pro-Palestine leaders like Anas Amireh do not.
WPTV reporter Cassandra Garcia asked: “Do you welcome Netanyahu’s visit to the U.S.?”
“Absolutely not, I don’t welcome Netanyahu and I don’t welcome any other war criminal,” said Amireh.
He is the chair of the Palestine Right to Return Coalition in Florida.
“While the world is calling out this genocide, the United States government accepts them and Congress does 55 or 58 standing ovations. It just shows that, you know, they have the blessing of this colonial project called Israel to go ahead and massacre,” said Amireh.
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The visit comes nine months into Israel’s war with Hamas, which has taken the lives of more than 39,000 people.
“Stop the killing, immediately stop dropping 500-pound and one-ton missiles on residential areas and on hospitals claiming that there's two or three terrorists there,” added Amireh.
Both sides are holding onto to hope that Friday's conversations will be a step in the direction of peace.
“We should expedite it and finish the war as quick as possible by finishing all the terrorists, not just by saying the war is over. The war is over when we finish the terrorists,” said Uminer.
