President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tour the Iron Dome battery, an Israeli missile system designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells, after Obama’s arrival Wednesday in Tel Aviv for a long-anticipated state visit. In more than four hours of planned meetings with Netanyahu, Obama is expected to discuss Iran’s nuclear program and the status of Western diplomatic efforts to curb it; the civil war in Syria; and the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
The centerpiece of the visit will be a speech by Obama at the Jerusalem International Convention Center, in which he will address an audience of young Israelis, assembled by several universities.
The president “just thought it was important to be able to speak to the Israeli people as well, given that he has not traveled here yet as president, and having that kind of conversation with the public will ultimately be helpful in deepening the relationship," said Benjamin Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, who is drafting Obama’s remarks.