Donald Trump said the Middle East had a “rare opportunity” to achieve peace as he arrived in Israel on Monday for his first visit to the country.
The US president arrived on Air Force One just after noon on the second stop in his maiden foreign tour, after a rare direct flight from Saudi Arabia — a country Israel classifies as an enemy state and where Mr Trump positioned the US squarely on the side of Sunni Arab states in what he described as a battle between “good and evil” against Iran.
“We have before us a rare opportunity to bring security, stability and peace to this region and its people, defeating terrorism and creating a future of harmony, prosperity and peace,” Mr Trump said after arriving Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, where he and his wife Melania were greeted on a red carpet by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, Reuven Rivlin, the president, and Israeli ministers, accompanied by a military band.