Donald Trump landed in Israel late on Monday morning in advance of a whirlwind two-day visit to Jerusalem and the West Bank.

He arrived from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Air Force One – flying direct, as no other planes are permitted to do – following a 48-hour lovefest with leaders from dozens of Arab nations.

The second leg of Trump's nine-day excursion will put a spotlight on his vaunted efforts to bring about peace between Israelis and Palestinians – a prospect that the billionaire businessman has called the 'ultimate deal.'

He said alongside Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in a Jerusalem photo-op that even challenges like a belligerent Iran with nuclear ambitions can be an 'opportunity' as Tehran's saber-rattling 'has brought many other parts of the Middle East toward Israel.'

'You have a great opportunity right now,' Trump told him. 'There's a great feeling for peace throughout the Middle East. I think people have just had enough. They've had enough of the bloodshed and the killing.'

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrived Monday in Israel, on the heels of a successful two-day visit to Saudi Arabia

Air Force One arrived around midday at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv

Trump, center, got familiar with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and President Rueben Rivlin, left, during Monday's welcome ceremony in Tel Aviv

Trump pledged upon his arrival in Tel Aviv that he was there to ''reaffirm the unbreakable bond between the United States and the state of Israel'

Even Arab leaders, Trump said, have told him the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran is so great that they are finding themselves siding with the Jewish state.

'The United States and Israel can declare with one voice that Iran must never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon – never ever!' Trump said outside the president's ceremonial residence in Jerusalem.

He demanded that Tehran 'must cease its deadly funding, training and equipping of terrorists and militias. And it must cease immediately.'

The president will face tough questions Monday and Tuesday from an Israeli government that had been aligned with him during his campaign – even after pledging upon his arrival that he would 'reaffirm the unbreakable bond between the United States and the state of Israel.'

'The people of Israel are excited by your arrival – and have great expectations,' Rivlin told him during an arrival ceremony on the tarmac at Ben Gurion International Airport.

'The world needs a strong United States. The Middle East needs a strong United States. Israel needs a strong United States,' Rivlin said, each crescendo outdoing the last.

'And may I say, the United States needs a strong Israel.'

Monday's arrival couldn't have been more different from Saturday's spectacle in Riyadh, in one major respect: The uniformed Israeli Defense Forces soldiers included many women who held machine guns next to their skirts.

In Saudi Arabia, the only females visible on the airport tarmac were two small girls holding bouquets and a single U.S. Secret Service agent.

First Lady Melania Trump (left) and Israel's President Reuven Rivlin (right) stood next to Donald Trump as he signed the guest book at the President's Residence in Jerusalem

IDF forces on the tarmac Monday in Israel (foreground) included some female soldiers wearing uniform skirts – a sight that was unthinkable on Trump's previous stop in Saudi Arabia

Cultural schisms aside, Trump warmed to the Saudis over the weekend, praising their hospitality and assuring the Arab world in a landmark speech that despite his past advocacy for a 'ban' on Muslims, America is not in a terror war with all of Islam.

That hasn't sat universally well with Israelis who see Islamist theocracies as existential threats.

But Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu clung Monday to Trump's anti-terror message.

'Yesterday in Saudi Arabia you delivered a forceful speech of clarity and conviction,' he said. 'You called on all nations to drive out terrorists and extremists. ... For 69 years Israel has been doing precisely that.'

He thanked Trump for the 'powerful expression of your friendship to Israel' that his trip represents.

And he made what, for him, has become an ordinary but plaintive entreaty toward Palestinians.

'Israel's hand is extended in peace to all our neighbors,' he said, but only in the services of 'a genuine and durable one in which the Jewish state is recognized, security remains in Israel's hands and the conflict ends once and for all.'

A marching band and a military honor guard was on hand for Trump's arrival

Trump and the first lady held their hands over their hearts for the playing of the U.S. national anthem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left), his wife Sara (second left) and David Friedman (third L), the new United States Ambassador to Israel, awaited the president's arrival

Security personnel with a sniffer dog inspected the tarmac, part of the elaborate security measures in place for Trump's two-day stop

Trump has become adept at playing to Netanyahu's lifelong tensions, the same ingrained historical fears of a repeated Holocaust that preoccupy Israel to the point where its national anthem – played Monday and sung by everyone on the tarmac except the Trumps – is the only such song on earth written in a minor key.

On Monday he promised Israelis that he would work toward 'a future where the nations of the region are at peace and all of our children can grow – and grow up strong, and grow up free from terrorism and violence.'

And Trump has, since taking office, made a 180-degree turn away from his campaign position that Jews should continue to build settlements in the contested West Bank region.

He told DailyMail.com one year ago that 'I don't think there should be a pause' in settlement construction, saying that Palestinian militants had fired 'thousands of missiles' into the Jewish state.

Less than two weeks after he moved to Washington, Trump's administration was cautioning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop making 'unilateral actions that could undermine our ability to make progress, including settlement announcements.'

Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas have since visited the White House, and he will see both of them in the next 24 hours.

In tow will be Jared Kushner, Trump's Orthodox Jewish son-in-law and lawyer David Friedman, who is the new U.S. ambassador.

Trump will meet with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) first on Monday. He will sit down with Palestine's Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (right) on Tuesday

The president said in January that Kushner would help him broker a Mid-East peace deal since he 'knows the region, knows the people, knows the players.'

On the eve of his inauguration, Trump pointed to Jushner in the audience of a VIP dinner, saying with quasi-paternal glee: 'If you can't produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can.'

The Trump Itinerary Monday, May 22 (all times local) 12:15 p.m.: Air Force One lands in Israel followed by official ceremony 1:10 p.m.: Helicopter takes Trump to Jerusalem 1:15 p.m.: Meeting with President of Israel Reuven Rivlin 2:30 p.m.: Visit Church of the Holy Sepulchre 3:15 p.m.: Visit the Western Wall 4:00 p.m.: Check in at the famed King David Hotel 6:00 p.m.: Meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 7:15 p.m.: Netanyahu hosts official dinner including Melania Trump and Sara Netanyahu Tuesday, May 23 (all times local) 10:00 a.m.: Meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem 1:00 p.m.: Wreath-laying at Yad Vashem 1:30 p.m.: Address at the Israel Museum 4:30 p.m.: Departure from Ben Gurion Airport for Italy Advertisement

Even a year ago, when he was less skeptical about West bank settlements, the president thought the most elusive peace plan on the planet was more than just a pipe dream.

'I would love to see if peace could be negotiated,' he told DailyMail.com in May 2016.

'A lot of people say that's not a deal that's possible. But I mean lasting peace, not a peace that lasts for two weeks and they start launching missiles again.'

Trump was pursuing a buddy relationship with Netanyahu as a businessman for years before he entered politics – even making a campaign ad for him in 2013.

But three years later in a presidnetial debate, the future Oval Office occupant declared that he would be 'neutral' in the fight between Arab and Jew.

That began a downward slide, in public at least, pointing to troubles behind their long friendship.

By last week, even before Trump's tour de force in Saudi Arabia, Netanyahu was forced to order his cabinet ministers to attend Monday's welcome pageant.

And he spent much of Sunday, The New York Times reported, wrestling with conservative ministers in his coalition in order to approve modest measures targeted at improving economic conditions in the West Bank – an olive branch of sorts for Trump, if not for Abbas.

Tel Aviv's Palestinian wrangling may end up being less of a focus in real life, however, than Israel's growing fear of a nuclear Iran, and on measuring and managing tensions created by Trump's enthusiastic promotion of 12-figure arms deals with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

In Riyadh, as elsewhere in the Arab world, it's common to refer to Israel only as 'the Zionist entity.'

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke with reporters on a flight with Trump to Israel aboard Air Force One on Monday morning

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday that Israel needn't worry, even after its energy minister said the weapons sales are worrisome.

'There has been nothing entered into with the arms sales agreements with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, or any of the other countries, that do not fully allow us to fulfill our commitments to Israel and the longstanding security arrangements we have with Israel,' Tillerson said.

'I'm sure we can answer those questions and address the concerns they have.'

Tillerson also addressed the potential fallout from an embarrassing episode last week that saw Trump egg-faced after he unwittingly shared Israeli intelligence about ISIS terror plots with Russian officials.

Asked if the president planned to offer an apology to Netanyahu and Rivlin, he said: 'I don’t know that there’s anything to apologize for.'

'To the extent the Israelis have any questions, or clarification, I'm sure we’re happy to provide that,' he said.

Israeli honor guards stand to attention before the arrival of US President Donald Trump at Ben Gurion Airport

Trump delivered a speech in Riyadh on Sunday, urging the Arab world to rid the world of violent Islamic terrorists

Trump tried to calm the waters and diffuse the news of his Arab triumph, meeting first with Rivlin and then visiting the Western Wall.

Later comes a bilateral meeting with Netanyahu and a private dinner.

Then the next round of fireworks may erupt on Israeli television sets as pictures showing Trump with Abbas are beamed westward from the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

Bookending his visit will be a brief visit to Yad Vashem – likely only 15 minutes – and then a speech at the Israel Museum to complement his Saudi spotlight moment.

Trump praised Israel on Monday as 'a nation forged in the commitment that we will never allow the horrors and atrocities of the last century to be repeated.'

He embraced Netanyahu in a half-hug, forearm to forearm – near enough to be heard over the wind but not too close for comfort.

Rivlin sounded the day's most an optimistic note in his early afternoon photo-op with Trump.

'We are praying for peace, and we are pushing for peace for the last 100 years,' he said. 'And with God's help, somebody will bring us peace, all together.'

Donald Trump on Monday became the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest place of prayer

Trump heard a lesson about the site's significance from Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz (center right) and Mordechai Elias (center left), who leads the Western Wall Heritage Foundation

Trump's visit to the Western Wall made him the first sitting U.S. president to pray at Judaism's holiest site. He left a prayer note there in accordance with Jewish custom.

Located in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the Western Wall is a section of one of four original retaining walls King Herod built in the first century B.C. to support the Temple Mount.

It is also the only remaining portion of the Second Jewish Temple, which stood in Jerusalem until the Romans destroyed it in 70 A.D. as they put down a Jewish revolt.

It has been U.S. policy for the last 50 years to not recognize East Jerusalem as part of Israel, making a visit to the wall a political minefield.

But Trump, clad in a navy suit, red striped tie and black kippah, strode into the Western Wall Prayer Plaza in Jerusalem's Old City on Monday before placing his hand on the stone wall and praying for 30 seconds.