WASHINGTON (AP) — Shining Donald Trump Welcome to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu The Israeli leaders met face-to-face for the first time in nearly four years on Friday, repairing a political alliance crucial to both men that had been torn apart after he angered Trump by being one of the first to congratulate Joe Biden on his victory in the 2020 presidential election.
Asked by reporters whether the US visit had brought progress towards a ceasefire in Gaza, Netanyahu said “I hope so,” adding that Israel was eager for an agreement.
Netanyahu handed Trump a framed photograph that the Israeli leader said showed a child who has been held hostage by Hamas-led militants since the first hours of the war. “We will solve this problem,” Trump assured the prime minister.
According to the Trump campaign, at the meeting, Trump promised to “make every effort to bring peace to the Middle East” and to fight anti-Semitism on college campuses if American voters elect him president in November.
Trump waited for Netanyahu on the stone steps outside his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, and warmly shook hands with the Israeli leader. Both men are keen to resume ties, including the political backing and glamour that an alliance would bring.
“We’ve always had a great relationship,” Trump insisted to reporters as the two men met in the mural room. Asked if Netanyahu’s visit to Mar-a-Lago had repaired their ties, Trump replied, “It’s never been bad.”
President Donald Trump went far beyond his predecessors to grant Netanyahu his biggest wish from the U.S. But by the time Trump left the White House, relations had deteriorated and, despite Netanyahu’s efforts to repair the relationship, Trump openly criticized him for being disloyal.
For both men, Friday’s meeting was aimed at highlighting their image to audiences in both the U.S. and Israel as strong leaders who have achieved and can achieve great things on the world stage.
Netanyahu’s visit to Florida followed a fiery speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday in which he defended his far-right government’s war efforts and denounced U.S. protesters outraged by the killing of more than 39,000 Palestinians in the conflict.
Netanyahu met with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington on Thursday, and both urged the Israeli leader to quickly finalize an agreement on a ceasefire and the release of hostages.
Netanyahu faces growing domestic accusations that he is prolonging the war to prevent his government from collapsing when it ends.
For Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, the meeting was a chance to position himself as an ally and statesman, as well as a chance for the Republican Party to bolster efforts to portray itself as the party most loyal to Israel.
is Divisions among Americans The dispute over U.S. support for Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip has caused a rift in longstanding strong bipartisan support for Israel, the largest recipient of U.S. aid.
For Prime Minister Netanyahu, repairing relations with Trump is essential given the possibility that he could become president again in the United States, Israel’s key arms supplier and patron.
One of Netanyahu’s political gambles is whether waiting out the Biden administration in the hope of a Trump victory will allow him to get more of the terms he wants in a Gaza ceasefire, a hostage release agreement and his much-anticipated normalization deal with Saudi Arabia.
“Benjamin Netanyahu has spent much of his career over the last 20 years tying himself up to the Republican Party,” said Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. diplomat in Arab-Israeli negotiations and now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Miller said the next six months would be about “repairing a short-tempered, angry president,” referring to President Trump.
Trump broke with Netanyahu in early 2021 after the Israeli prime minister was one of the first world leaders to congratulate Biden on his presidential election victory, ignoring Trump’s false claims that he had won.
“Bibi should have kept quiet,” Trump said. Interview with an Israeli newspaper “He made a terrible mistake.”
Netanyahu and Trump last met at a White House ceremony in September 2020 to mark the biggest diplomatic achievement of both men’s political careers. In an agreement brokered by the Trump administration, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed to establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel.
For Israel, it marked the first formal recognition by the two countries, a major step as Israel hopes to ease tensions and expand economic ties with Arab countries.
In public posts and statements since his split with Netanyahu, Trump has portrayed himself as having risked his life for Israel as president and having been rewarded by Netanyahu with disloyalty.
He has also criticized Netanyahu on other points, accusing him of being “unprepared” for the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza.
In a closely watched address to Congress on Wednesday, Netanyahu praised Biden for continuing Israel’s military and diplomatic support for its offensive against Gaza despite opposition from within his own Democratic Party.
But Netanyahu praised Trump, calling the regional deals he helped broker historic and thanking him for “everything he has done for Israel.”
Netanyahu listed actions by the Trump administration that the Israeli government has long sought: the U.S. formally declaring Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which it seized from Syria in the 1967 war; hardening U.S. policy toward Iran; and Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, breaking with longstanding U.S. policy that its status should be determined through negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
“I appreciated that,” Trump said Thursday on “Fox & Friends,” referring to Netanyahu’s praise.
But he did not back down from criticizing Israel’s war efforts, which have killed more than 39,000 Palestinians.
“I want him to finish it quickly. He needs to finish it quickly, because they’re being devastated by his propaganda,” Trump said in an interview Thursday.
“Israel is not very good at public relations, that’s for sure,” he added.
Trump has repeatedly called for Israel to “finish its mission” in Gaza and destroy Hamas with U.S. help, but has not detailed how.
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Natalie Meltzer in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed. Colvin and Price reported from New York.
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