While Netanyahu and his first lady could use some time to recharge their batteries, the prime minister will need to be on top of his game this week. By Alex Traiman, JNSIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is traveling to the United States this week to meet with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.The prime minister can hope to get some downtime with his wife, Sara, after two years of leading a difficult war and testifying in an ongoing corruption trial that has been unraveling, all while leading a fragile coalition in one of the world’s most complex democracies.There are not many places Israel’s embattled prime minister can travel to since the International Criminal Court issued warrants for his arrest. A visit to the luxurious Trump-owned club at Mar-a-Lago represents as close to a holiday vacation destination as possible.Yet the essence of the trip is not rest and relaxation. As is most always the case on diplomatic missions to meet an American president, this visit is a high-stakes one.Reports over the past several weeks have suggested that the prime minister will seek permission to renew attacks against the Islamic Republic of Iran.Yet these reports come from the same journalists, citing so-called anonymous senior sources, who have been attempting to sour the relationship between Trump and Netanyahu. So many of these reports over the past few years have proven to be false.That said, the situation with Iran is serious. There are indications that Iran is attempting to rebuild its ballistic missile arsenal as quickly as possible.More complicated than assembling the missiles themselves is rebuilding the missile launchers. As the 12-day war last June raged on, Israel managed to take out more than 50% of Iran’s launch capacity, creating a significant bottleneck.As Iran struggles to rebuild its missile arsenal, Israel is restocking its missile defense systems.Additionally, since the war ended, Israel has likely been working covertly to subvert Iran’s Islamic clerical regime and help prepare the groundwork for the domestic overthrow of the Islamic Republic.Yet Iran is not the only item on Netanyahu’s agenda. Hezbollah continues its attempts to regroup after Israel’s stunning military achievements against it.Israel succeeded in pushing Hezbollah away from the Israeli border and severely degraded the terror organization’s missile-launching capacity. According to some estimates, that capacity was reduced by as much as 80%.Yet efforts by the Lebanese army to complete the disarmament of Hezbollah are proving unsuccessful. Israel has been striking with increasing regularity against Hezbollah’s growing violations of the ceasefire agreement signed on Nov. 27, 2024.Trump would like to see Israel enter into some kind of normalization agreement with Lebanon, but for that to happen, Hezbollah will need to put down its arms or face harsh consequences.Whether Israel will receive a green light to restart hostilities remains to be seen.The situation in Syria also remains unstable. Just over a week ago, the United States conducted its own military strikes in Syria in response to Islamic State-affiliated terrorists killing three American military personnel there.Some have suggested that the terrorists were not only linked to ISIS, but also to former Al Qaeda terrorist turned president of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani.Trump has lifted sanctions against Syria in the hopes of bolstering Al Jolani and bringing Syria into the Saudi and American orbits.Yet there is little indication that the new president can control his forces to protect the many minorities who have been routinely massacred since the fall of former president Bashar Assad. The U.S. president may be running out of patience with al-Jolani.At the same time, Trump would also like to see Israel enter into some sort of formal defense agreement with Syria.Yet the most important front to be discussed between the two allies will be Gaza. It has been three months since Israel and Hamas signed the comprehensive 20-point plan to return all remaining Israeli hostages and end hostilities.Israel withdrew from parts of the Gaza Strip and currently controls 53% of the territory. Hamas has released all of the living hostages and has been slowly returning hostages’ remains. At time of publication, only one body, that of Ran Gvili, remains in the Strip.Yet Hamas continues to cling to power in the western 47% of Gaza. It has been reestablishing control of the remaining territory by attacking the clan leaders that Israel had been working with in an attempt to create localized leadership alternatives to Hamas.Trump would like to see the ceasefire agreement transition to Phase 2. This includes the establishment of the “Board of Peace,” chaired by the American president himself.While it remains unclear which countries will join the board, recent reports have suggested that Italy, Germany, Britain, Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt could all participate.Equally important is the possible establishment of an international stabilization force (ISF) to uphold the ceasefire in Gaza.The composition of the stabilization force is a matter of great debate. Turkey is prepared to send troops, but while America is open to the idea, Turkey’s participation in the ISF is a complete non-starter for Israel.U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently stated that the mandate of the ISF remains undefined. It is not clear whether ISF troops would engage Hamas directly.If not, the fear is that the ISF will only prevent Israel from striking Hamas leadership and terrorists despite continued ceasefire violations.Netanyahu has vowed that Hamas will be completely defeated and disarmed and that the Gaza Strip will be completely demilitarized. Rubio has seconded those calls.Yet for Israel, there is a growing fear that the United States is prepared to give in to the calls of Qatar, Turkey, and Egypt for Hamas to be left intact in nearly half of Gaza.Instead of anyone else being able to successfully disarm Hamas, Netanyahu hopes for the Israel Defense Forces to be given the green light to launch renewed counterterrorism operations in Gaza.Trump and his advisers, son-in-law Jared Kushner and close friend Steve Witkoff, would like to see the tenuous ceasefire hold. They hope to advance a modern rebuilding project within the Gaza Strip. They dream of a Dubai-style metropolis to be built on the rubble of Gaza.The trio believes, along with Qatar, that if Gaza were to receive a heavy dose of upward mobility, those who incited against Israel for many years would drop their terror campaign and genocidal ambitions. Israel is not convinced.Furthermore, Israel is distrustful of Qatar. While the United States has classified Qatar as an important ally, Israel sees the wealthy Gulf state as an enemy nation that houses Hamas leaders and is ultimately trying to protect the Sunni terror organization.Qatar, Turkey, and Egypt all pushed Hamas to accept Phase 1 of the ceasefire agreement and return all the hostages. However, they are apparently uninterested in advancing to Phase 2, which calls for the complete disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.What Qatar wants instead is further Israeli withdrawal and for the rebuilding effort in Gaza to begin. Qatar is trying to convince Trump that Hamas will change its stripes once given the economic incentive to do so.The idea that the terror organization that has the destruction of Israel as a major tenet of its charter will suddenly turn into a peaceful entity is absurd.For Netanyahu himself, the stakes are high as Israel is entering an election season, with polls scheduled for the end of October 2026, but with the possibility of early elections.The last thing Netanyahu wants is for the opposition and prime ministerial hopefuls to be able to claim that he failed to finish the war and that his calls for total victory were just wishful thinking.Netanyahu desperately wants to finish the job, to conclusively win the war, and to carry that military victory into the upcoming elections.While Netanyahu and his first lady could use some time to recharge their batteries, the prime minister will need to be on top of his game this week.As he has done so many times in the past, he will need to advance Israel’s interest, even when that interest may not be perfectly aligned with the will of the American president.Netanyahu will need to use all his statesmanship, balanced by his genuine friendship and alliance with the president, who has been the greatest friend of Israel to ever sit in the White House.If he succeeds, he will get to enjoy a few precious moments of much-needed respite in between the political, legal, diplomatic, and military battles that only he can simultaneously manage.The post Netanyahu’s high-stakes holiday visit to Mar-a-Lago appeared first on World Israel News.