Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: Screenshot.

JNS.org – Ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to Israel this month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed his support for the American leader’s push for renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

“The president will be warmly welcomed here as a great friend of Israel and as is customary for the leader of our greatest ally, the United States,” Netanyahu said Sunday at Israel’s weekly cabinet meeting.

“The president is seeking to examine ways of renewing the peace process with the Palestinians. I share in this desire, as do the citizens of Israel. We want peace. We are also educating our children for peace,” said Netanyahu, referencing comments made last week by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who had claimed, during his first meeting with Trump, that the Palestinians teach their children peace.

Netanyahu said, “I heard Abu Mazen (Abbas) say that the Palestinians are also educating their children for peace. I regret that this is simply incorrect.” Following Abbas’s comments, the Middle East Media Research Institute, which monitors and translates Arab media reports, published a series of excerpts highlighting “the indoctrination of children by the Palestinian Authority and Fatah in armed resistance, jihad and martyrdom.”

Trump is visiting Israel as part of his first foreign trip as commander-in-chief, which will also include stops in Saudi Arabia and the Vatican. For his May 22-23 visit to the Jewish state, the president will be accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump as well as his Jewish daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.