The meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, is the latest stop on a whirlwind trip for the Israeli leader, who on Thursday addressed a joint session of Congress and met with President Biden and Vice President Harris, the likely Democratic nominee. The day was fraught with tension, including loud protests over his speech to Congress.
In her meeting with Netanyahu, Harris implored him to accept a ceasefire deal that would end the fighting in Gaza and free the hostages. U.S. leaders say they are closer than ever to a deal, but finalizing one remains elusive.
“Let’s get the deal done so we can get a cease-fire that ends the war,” Harris told reporters after the White House meeting. She also called for the release of hostages held by Hamas and “the much-needed help that the Palestinian people need.”
The Biden administration has been a vocal supporter of Israel since the conflict began, with a deadly Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7. But tensions have escalated in the ensuing war, as Palestinian casualties have mounted and the United States has pushed for a deal that has yet to be reached. Harris’ remarks appear aimed at increasing pressure on Israel and Hamas to bridge remaining differences.
Trump, too, appears eager to see the war end and has focused his public criticism on the Israeli leader’s handling of the conflict.
On Thursday, on “Fox & Friends,” Trump said Israel was “decimated” by bad publicity surrounding its war with Gaza and that he wanted Netanyahu to “finish and finish the job quickly.”
“You have to act quickly because they’re being decimated by this publicity,” Trump said. “And you know, Israel is not very good at public relations.”
Trump expressed surprise that some “Jews wearing kippahs” were pro-Palestinian.
“Israel needs to get its public relations right. Its public relations are not good,” Trump said. “And it needs to get it right fast, because the world doesn’t take this lightly.”
On the trip, Netanyahu was forced to walk a delicate political balancing act: He arrived just as Biden was dropping out of the race, Harris was gaining the support she needed to win the nomination and the general election was beginning in earnest.
Israeli officials stress that he needs strong relations with the Biden administration, which will remain in office for the next six months no matter what. But he also wants to smooth things over with Trump, both for his own policies at home and in case Trump returns to the White House.
The prime minister’s conservative base and his more extreme coalition partners openly expect Trump to win. They remember his term as a golden age for the Israeli right wing: Trump swept aside many of Washington’s neutral positions, moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, approving the annexation of the Golan Heights and declaring that West Bank settlements should not be considered illegal.
Trump also helped broker the 2020 Abraham Accords, a set of treaties that normalized relations between Israel and four Arab states: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.
Trump would also be more likely to give Israel greater freedom in the Gaza war and in the political and security arrangements that follow, members of Netanyahu’s conservative base say.
Public Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir explicitly backed Trump on Wednesday, saying he would not obstruct Israel’s fighting, as Biden has done. Earlier this month, Ben Gvir had pleaded with his colleagues to torpedo the US-backed ceasefire deal currently being negotiated in Cairo, as it would be a “victory” for Biden and a “slap in the face” for Trump.
The Israeli prime minister is much more diplomatic, repeatedly saying that Israel will work closely with whoever is elected president. But Netanyahu has increasingly moved closer to the Republican Party and has run several election campaigns highlighting his closeness to Trump. In 2019, his party plastered photos of the two men on Tel Aviv skyscrapers.
Their relationship, however, fractured at the end of Trump’s term, with Netanyahu accusing him of disloyalty when the prime minister called Biden to congratulate him after the 2020 election.
Trump also told reporters he blamed Netanyahu for pulling Israel out of the 2020 raid in Iran that killed top commander Qassem Soleimani, said he never thought the prime minister seemed genuinely interested in seeking peace and praised Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. “Fuck him,” Trump said in a 2021 interview, referring to Netanyahu.
His anger had not subsided in April, when he told Time that he believed Netanyahu deserved blame for allowing the Hamas attacks on October 7. “I had a very bad experience with Bibi,” he said.
In other campaign news Friday, Harris won the endorsements of Barack and Michelle Obama, the former president and first lady, the latest Democratic Party leaders to back the likely nominee.
“We called to say that Michelle and I could not be more proud to support you and do everything we can to help you get through this election and into the Oval Office,” the former president told Harris in a phone call that was recorded and posted on social media.
As Harris’ campaign heats up, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), a potential vice presidential candidate, has planned an event in his swing state for Saturday. His campaign said he will “kick off a weekend of action in Pennsylvania to mark 100 days until the election.” The event is planned for Carlisle, in central Pennsylvania.
washingtonpost
