Benjamin Netanyahu to meet with Clinton and Trump on Sunday

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on Sunday, campaign aides to the Democratic and Republican nominees have confirmed.

Representatives of both campaigns told the Guardian that the presidential rivals will separately meet with Netanyahu on Sunday, likely in New York, where he is attending the United Nations general assembly. New York is also where Clinton has her campaign headquarters and where Trump resides in a tower.

“Our team has been in regular touch with PM Netanyahu’s team throughout the week,” a Clinton aide told NBC. A diplomatic source told CNN that Trump arranged to meet with the prime minister after the Republican nominee learned of Clinton’s meeting.

Netanyahu met with Barack Obama on Wednesday, at what was likely the last in-person meeting between the prime minister and president. The two leaders have had a tense, and at times visibly strained, relationship marked by disagreements over the Iran nuclear deal and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, even as Obama’s White House has finalized a record, $38bn military aid to Israel.

Both of Obama’s would-be successors have assured voters that they will offer unwavering support to Israel, and each has tried to portray themselves as able to contend with other world leaders. Clinton and Trump will face off for the first time in person on Monday night, at the first presidential debate.

Trump’s campaign has struggled to win the confidence of Jewish voters and donors. In 2012, 71% of $160m given by Jewish donors went to Obama, while 29% went to Mitt Romney, according to FiveThirtyEight, which found parallels to how Jewish voters cast ballots that year. In 2016, 84% of $94m given by Jewish donors has gone to Democrats and 16% to Republicans.

The nominee himself has drawn criticism for saying he wants to be “sort of a neutral guy” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for tweeting a six-pointed star over cash and the image of his opponent, for the antisemitic abuse some of his supporters have poured onto Jewish people, for his support from avowed antisemites, and for his apparent willingness to traffic in stereotypes, as when he told the Republican Jewish Coalition, “this room negotiates perhaps more than any room I’ve spoken to, maybe more.”

This week the former secretary of state and the businessman separately met with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former general who seized power in 2013. Trump later called al-Sisi a “fantastic guy”, telling Fox News, “There was a good chemistry there. You know when you have good chemistry with people. There was a good feeling between us.”

“He took control of Egypt,” Trump said. “And he really took control of it.”

Clinton has not spoken about her meeting with the Egyptian president, but Sisi told CNN that he had faith in both candidates. “Political parties in the United States would not allow candidates to reach that level unless they are qualified to lead a country the size of the United States of America,” he said.

• Ben Jacobs contributed reporting.