Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited former U.S. President Donald Trump at Trump’s Florida resort on Friday for a meeting that could ease tensions between two leaders who forged a close alliance during Trump’s years in the White House. Netanyahu met Trump, the Republican nominee in the 2024 U.S. presidential race, a day after Netanyahu met Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running against Trump in the Nov. 5 U.S. election. The longtime Israeli leader rearranged his U.S. travel schedule to meet Trump. He landed in Palm Beach early on Friday.
Quick Read
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited former U.S. President Donald Trump at Trump’s Florida resort on Friday.
- The meeting aimed to ease tensions between the two leaders who were close allies during Trump’s presidency.
- Netanyahu rearranged his U.S. travel schedule to meet Trump, landing in Palm Beach early on Friday.
- The visit occurred a day after Netanyahu met with Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
- Harris is running against Trump in the November 5 U.S. presidential election, and opinion polls show a close race.
- World leaders like Netanyahu are trying to balance dealings with both U.S. political sides.
- During their meeting, Harris expressed serious concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
- Harris emphasized that Israel has the right to defend itself but how it conducts the defense matters.
- Israeli officials criticized Harris for suggesting the war should end.
- Trump called for a quick end to the war and criticized Israel’s public relations management.
- Trump also condemned those who protested Netanyahu’s speech to Congress.
- The meeting between Trump and Netanyahu signaled an attempt to mend their strained relationship.
- Trump was angered by Netanyahu congratulating Biden on his 2020 election victory.
- Trump also criticized Netanyahu for Israeli security failures around the October 7 Hamas attack.
- Netanyahu’s speech to Congress defended Israel’s military actions and acknowledged Biden’s support.
- Netanyahu praised Trump’s pro-Israel actions, including moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and the Abraham Accords.
- Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw anticipated peaceful protests but not on the scale of those during Netanyahu’s speech in Washington.
- Clasping his hand warmly, a beaming Donald Trump welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their first face-to-face meeting in nearly four years on Friday.
- Trump waited on the stone steps outside his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, to greet the Israeli leader.
- Netanyahu’s Florida trip follows a fiery address to Congress and separate talks with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
- Both Trump and Netanyahu have strong political interests in getting past their differences.
- The meeting could cast Trump as an ally and statesman, sharpening efforts by Republicans to portray themselves as the party most loyal to Israel.
- Divisions among Americans over U.S. support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza are opening cracks in what has been decades of strong bipartisan backing for Israel.
- Repairing relations with Trump is imperative for Netanyahu given the prospect that Trump may once again become president.
- Friday’s meeting will highlight both men’s depiction of themselves as strong leaders who have gotten big things done on the world stage.
- Trump’s public statements urging a rapid end to the war in Gaza could add to tensions.
- Netanyahu might gamble on getting more favorable terms in any deal on a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release by waiting out the Biden administration in hopes that Trump wins.
- Trump broke off with Netanyahu in early 2021 after Netanyahu congratulated Biden for his presidential election victory.
- Netanyahu and Trump last met at a September 2020 White House signing ceremony for an accord brokered by the Trump administration, which established normal diplomatic relations between the UAE, Bahrain, and Israel.
- Trump has portrayed himself as having stuck his neck out for Israel as president, feeling Netanyahu paid him back with disloyalty.
- Trump criticized Netanyahu for Israeli security failures around the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.
- In his speech to Congress, Netanyahu gave recognition to Biden’s support but poured praise on Trump for his pro-Israel actions.
- Netanyahu listed actions by the Trump administration long-sought by Israeli governments.
- Trump acknowledged Netanyahu’s praise but continued his criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war, urging Israel to finish up quickly due to negative publicity.
- Trump has repeatedly urged that Israel, with U.S. support, finish the job in Gaza and destroy Hamas.
The Associated Press has the story:
A beaming Trump welcomes Netanyahu to Mar-a-Lago, mending a yearslong rift with a key political ally
Newslooks- PALM BEACH, Florida, (AP) –
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited former U.S. President Donald Trump at Trump’s Florida resort on Friday for a meeting that could ease tensions between two leaders who forged a close alliance during Trump’s years in the White House. Netanyahu met Trump, the Republican nominee in the 2024 U.S. presidential race, a day after Netanyahu met Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running against Trump in the Nov. 5 U.S. election. The longtime Israeli leader rearranged his U.S. travel schedule to meet Trump. He landed in Palm Beach early on Friday.
Opinion polls put Harris and Trump in a close race for the White House, prompting world leaders like Netanyahu, traditionally more aligned with Trump’s Republicans than Biden’s Democrats, to strike a balance in dealings with the U.S.
Nine months into an Israeli offensive in Gaza, Harris pressed Netanyahu on the suffering of Palestinians in the enclave in talks that were watched for signs of how she might shift American policy if she becomes president. “I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there,” Harris said on Thursday after the meeting. “I will not be silent.” “Israel has a right to defend itself. And how it does so matters,” she said.
Israeli officials criticized Harris for saying it was time for the war to end. In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Trump called for a quick end to the war and a return of the hostages Hamas holds in Gaza, adding that Israel has to better manage its “public relations.” “I want him (Netanyahu) to finish up and get it done quickly,” Trump said. “They are getting decimated with this publicity.” Trump also criticized those who protested a speech Netanyahu gave to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday. Dozens of Democrats boycotted the speech, voicing dismay over the thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza and the displacement of most of its 2.3 million people.
Clasping his hand warmly, a beaming Donald Trump welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their first face-to-face meeting in nearly four years on Friday, as they sought to mend an important political alliance that had broken down after Netanyahu congratulated Joe Biden on his 2020 presidential victory over Trump. Trump was waiting on the stone steps outside his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, to greet the Israeli leader on the fifth day of his visit to the U.S., his first trip abroad since Israel’s war with Hamas began nine months ago.
Netanyahu’s Florida trip follows a fiery address to Congress and separate talks with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, newly Trump’s Democratic rival for the presidency. Both Trump and Netanyahu have strong political interests in getting past their differences. As president, Trump went well beyond his predecessors in fulfilling Netanyahu’s top wishes from the United States.
For Trump, now the Republican presidential nominee, the meeting could cast him as an ally and statesman, as well as sharpen efforts by Republicans to portray themselves as the party most loyal to Israel. That’s as divisions among Americans over U.S. support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza open cracks in what has been decades of strong bipartisan backing for Israel, the biggest recipient of U.S. aid. For Netanyahu, repairing relations with Trump is imperative given the prospect that he may once again become president of the United States, which is Israel’s vital arms supplier and protector.
For both men, Friday’s meeting will highlight for their home audiences their depiction of themselves as strong leaders who have gotten big things done on the world stage, and can again. But Trump’s public statements urging a rapid end to the war in Gaza could add to tensions.
One political gamble for Netanyahu is whether he could get more of the terms he wants in any deal on a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release, and in his much hoped-for closing of a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, if he waits out the Biden administration in hopes that Trump wins.
“Benjamin Netanyahu has spent much of his career in the last two decades in tethering himself to the Republican Party,” said Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. diplomat for Arab-Israeli negotiations, now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. For the next six months, that means “mending ties with an irascible, angry president,” Miller said, meaning Trump. Trump broke off with Netanyahu in early 2021. That was after the Israeli prime minister became one of the first world leaders to congratulate Biden for his presidential election victory, disregarding Trump’s false claim he had won. “Bibi could have stayed quiet,” Trump said in an interview with an Israel newspape back then. “He made a terrible mistake.”
Netanyahu and Trump last met at a September 2020 White House signing ceremony for the signature diplomatic achievement of both men’s political careers. It was an accord brokered by the Trump administration in which the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed to establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel. For Israel, it amounted to the two countries formally recognizing it for the first time. It was a major step in what Israel hopes will be an easing of tensions and a broadening of economic ties with its Arab neighbors.
In public postings and statements after his break with Netanyahu, Trump portrayed himself as having stuck his neck out for Israel as president, and Netanyahu paying him back with disloyalty. He also has criticized Netanyahu on other points, faulting him as “not prepared” for the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that started the war in Gaza, for example. In his high-profile speech to Congress on Wednesday, Netanyahu gave recognition to Biden, who has kept up military and diplomatic support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza despite opposition from within his Democratic Party.
But Netanyahu poured praise on Trump, calling the regional accords Trump helped broker historic and thanking him “for all the things he did for Israel.” Netanyahu listed actions by the Trump administration long-sought by Israeli governments — the U.S. officially saying Israel had sovereignty over the Golan Heights, captured from Syria during a 1967 war; a tougher U.S. policy toward Iran; and Trump declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel, breaking with longstanding U.S. policy that Jerusalem’s status should be decided in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
“I appreciated that,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Thursday, referring to Netanyahu’s praise. He didn’t quiet his criticism, however, of Israel’s conduct of the war, which has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians. “I want him to finish up and get it done quickly. You gotta get it done quickly, because they are getting decimated with his publicity,” Trump said in Thursday’s interview. “Israel is not very good at public relations, I’ll tell you that,” he added. Trump has repeatedly urged that Israel with U.S. support “finish the job” in Gaza and destroy Hamas, but he hasn’t elaborated on how.
NETANYAHU, TRUMP LOOK TO EASE TENSIONS
The meeting between Trump and Netanyahu signaled that both were looking to ease tensions. The Israeli leader angered Trump when he congratulated Biden on his victory over Trump in the 2020 election. Trump has falsely claimed the election was stolen from him by voter fraud. Trump more recently criticized Netanyahu for Israeli security failures around the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
Hamas and its allies killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Some 120 hostages are still being held though Israel believes one in three are dead. In defiant remarks to Congress on Wednesday, Netanyahu defended Israel’s military and dismissed criticism of a campaign which has devastated Gaza and killed more than 39,000 people, according to health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave. Israeli officials estimate that some 14,000 fighters from militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been killed or taken prisoner out of a force they estimated to number more than 25,000 at the start of the war.
In Wednesday’s speech, Netanyahu praised Biden’s support for Israel. But to cheers from Republicans, he touched on Trump’s pro-Israel record as president. He praised Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a long-held goal of conservatives that infuriated Palestinians. He also cited the Abraham Accords, landmark U.S.-brokered agreements signed during Trump’s White House years that normalized bilateral relations between Israel and both Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw encouraged peaceful protests but said he did not expect demonstrations on the scale of what happened during Netanyahu’s speech in Washington when thousands of activists marched – vandalizing some landmarks and confronting police – to protest the war in Gaza.
