There’s been a crisis over Trump’s impending visit among the Israeli government ministers who set up a mini-mutiny on Sunday at the weekly cabinet meeting.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced into a verbal wrestling match with most of his coalition ministers, who were deeply resistant to standing around on the tarmac for hours waiting for the arrival of Air Force One in the hot sun.
In fact, Netanyahu was told by three of the ministers they had previous commitments and were not willing to cancel the meetings – at which time the prime minister stopped the cabinet meeting and bluntly ordered the entire government to attend the welcoming ceremony at the airport.
So with that as a starting point…
U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to keep his visit in Jerusalem and Bethlehem during his two-day visit in Israel this week, after his talks with Saudi leaders in Riyadh.
Monday, 12:15 pm – President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will be welcomed with full State honors at an official ceremony at Ben Gurion International Airport. What originally was planned as a streamlined welcome has now become an elaborate affair with full ceremonial trappings, complete with military band, flower girls, a hora dance and speeches by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin and President Trump himself as well.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also produced a welcome video for the president:
Israel welcomes @POTUS in – Israel's capital, the spiritual & geographical center of the Jewish ppl for 3,000 yrs. pic.twitter.com/RYrMyii9ao
— Israel Foreign Min. (@IsraelMFA) May 18, 2017
Monday, 13:00 pm – President Rivlin meets with President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump (who fly by presidential helicopter to Jerusalem) at the presidential residence on HaNasi Street in the capital.
Originally — and as is described in an article, The President’s Trip Abroad on the WhiteHouse.gov website — President Trump is then scheduled to make a quick visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum to lay a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance. According to that article, he is then scheduled to make a visit to the Israel Museum. But on the itinerary distributed to media in Israel, that is not scheduled until Tuesday, as is seen below. Which it will be is anyone’s guess.
Monday, 18:00 pm – Private meeting between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump at the King David Hotel.
Monday, 18:45 pm – Expanded meeting between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump at the King David Hotel
Monday, 19:30 pm — Prime Minister Netanyahu and his wife Sara host President Trump and his wife, First Lady Melania, for dinner at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem.
Monday, 20:00 pm — Dinner for the President’s entourage and the Israeli delegation, under the aegis of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, at the King David Hotel.
And this is the next change, because this dinner — which might have been a nice reward for hard work well done — was suddenly cancelled on Sunday morning by the Trump travel team, with no explanation.
Tuesday, 13:00 pm – Visit to Yad Vashem, 15 minutes to lay a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance. Israel officials requested President Trump spend at least an hour to understand and view the exhibits, as do most foreign dignitaries.
Tuesday, 14:00 pm – President Trump delivers remarks at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
(This is the speech that was to be delivered Monday, and originally was intended to have been delivered with drama and fanfare atop the windswept Dead Sea fortress of Masada, in the Judean Desert. That plan fell apart when the Israeli military explained the president’s helicopter could not land on the archaeological ruins, but instead would need to land at the bottom of the cliff in order to preserve the site. A suggestion that the president use the cable cars to ride to the top, as did several former presidents, was swiftly rejected and the speech at Masada was tossed aside.)
Tuesday, 15:45 pm – Just before leaving Israel, First Lady Melania Trump joins Sara Netanyahu for a visit to Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem. According to the itinerary, “They will talk with the medical staff and meet with children in the play area for a joint artistic activity.” How they will do that and also arrive at the airport from Jerusalem, all within 15 minutes’ time, is anyone’s guess. As the itinerary states over and over, “Tentative schedule; subject to change!”
Tuesday, 16:00 pm – Farewell ceremony at Ben Gurion International Airport
Notice anything missing?
Right. Where’s the visit to the Western Wall?
Well, actually, that’s not on the itinerary that was distributed to media either, because it was deemed a “private visit.” Sometimes the itineraries of dignitaries include such events, with the notation “no coverage” but in this case, the decision was made not to even include it in the itinerary.
Ditto the information about the visit with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas — not even the time that President Trump will leave Jerusalem to meet with him, let alone any information about meeting times in Bethlehem, etc.
Like the itinerary said: Tentative schedule; subject to change!