Israel’s Netanyahu not formally invited to Trump’s inauguration

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly not been formally invited to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, which is set to take place on 20 January.

A senior aide to Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court in connection to alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel in Gaza, told the Times of Israel that he would not be in attendance.

The Israeli news publication said that while the prime minister has not received an official invitation, it is unclear whether he has been informally asked to attend.

This comes after Israeli officials have been persistently saying Netanyahu would be in attendance despite undergoing prostate removal surgery in December.

Netanyahu did not attend Trump’s inauguration in 2017, and foreign leaders usually do not attend US inaugurations.

The United States and Israel’s alliance grew even closer during Trump’s 2017-2021 presidency. Trump pulled the US out of the landmark Iran nuclear lead and controversially formally recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city.

Despite being allies and Trump boasting of his relationship with the Israeli leader, there were rumours of an alleged rift between them following the election of President Joe Biden in 2020.

Following Netanyahu’s congratulatory message to Biden and Harris on winning the US elections that year, there were reports that Trump unfollowed Netanyahu on X. However, other reports suggested Trump had never followed him in the first place.

Trump has continually insisted that the 2020 US election was rigged against him despite presenting no credible evidence for this.

On Thursday, Trump shared a video containing insults and criticising Netanyahu by a US professor, claiming he has forced the US into "endless wars" on his Truth Social account.

The uncertainty over Netanyahu's attendance comes after the ICC issued warrants against him and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes in Gaza.

While the US is not a member of the ICC and said it would not execute the warrants, he could still risk being arrested if he travels elsewhere or makes an emergency landing in a third country.