The former president Donald Trump Met tonight (Friday) with the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, against the backdrop of political tension between the two countries and personal tension between the two personalities who were previously close allies. The two cooperated closely during Trump’s tenure, but the latter’s ire arose when Netanyahu called to congratulate Joe Biden for his victory in 2020. However, at the end of the meeting, Trump said that “the relationship between me and Netanyahu has always been good.”
At the beginning of the meeting, the Netanyahus received a warm welcome: “This is the best dinner I’ve ever had,” Trump told Sarah Netanyahu and headed for a meeting with the two at the Prime Minister’s House during his visit to Israel in May 2017. According to a report by Barak Ravid in Vala, in recent weeks Netanyahu worked behind the scenes to restore relations with Trump and arrange a meeting with him during his visit to the United States.
In their meeting, Trump said regarding the abductees: “They must be returned immediately, there is no way they are in good condition.” Netanyahu replied to him: “There was progress following the military pressures, let’s hope it will be enough to bring about a breakthrough.” He also announced in his meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu that he undertakes to work for peace in the Middle East and to fight anti-Semitism if he returns to the White House.
It was also reported that a senior Israeli official said that Netanyahu spoke with Trump on the phone on July 4 and congratulated him on the occasion of American Independence Day. The Israeli official noted that Prime Minister Netanyahu believes that his relationship with Trump is good.
Since the crisis in their relationship, Trump has openly criticized Netanyahu’s handling of the war in the Gaza Strip. Just today, a few hours before the meeting, Trump said in an interview with Fox News that “Israel must quickly end the war and return the detainees.” Netanyahu and his coalition partners are hoping for Trump’s victory. They remember his tenure as a golden age for the Israeli right.
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Trump ignored many of Washington’s neutral positions, moved the American embassy to Jerusalem, approved the annexation of the Golan Heights and stated that the settlements in the West Bank should not be considered illegal as a matter of policy. Trump also helped spearhead the 2020 Abraham Accords, a series of treaties that normalized relations between Israel and four Arab countries: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.
Earlier this month, according to a report in the Washington Post, Ben Gabir urged his colleagues to thwart the US-backed cease-fire deal currently underway in Cairo, claiming that it would be a “victory” for Biden and a “slap” for Trump. Netanyahu repeatedly states that Israel will work closely with whoever is elected president, but he himself has forged an even closer relationship with the Republican Party, and has run several election campaigns while emphasizing his closeness to Trump. In 2019, his party plastered photos of the two on skyscrapers in Tel Aviv.
However, the relationship between them, as mentioned, cracked at the end of Trump’s term. Trump denounced Netanyahu as disloyal when the prime minister called to congratulate Biden after the 2020 election. Trump also told reporters that Netanyahu avoided involvement in the assassination of Iran’s Quds Force commander Kasem Soleimani in 2020, saying that he never thought the prime minister seemed genuinely interested in the pursuit of peace. At the same time, he praised the president of the Palestinian Authority Abu Mazen.
“To hell with him,” Trump said in an interview in 2021, referring to Netanyahu. His anger did not subside until April, when he said in an interview to the American magazine “Time” that he thinks Netanyahu is guilty of allowing the Hamas attacks on Shiva to October. “I had a very bad experience with Bibi,” he said.