By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, JILL COLVIN and MICHELLE PRICE Related Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A beaming Donald Trump welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to their first face-to-face assembly in almost 4 years on Friday, patching up a political alliance essential to each males that had damaged down when the Israeli chief offended Trump by being one of many first to congratulate Joe Biden on his 2020 presidential victory.
Requested by journalists if his U.S. journey was making progress towards a Gaza cease-fire at dwelling, Netanyahu stated, “I hope so,” and added that Israel was looking forward to an settlement.
Netanyahu handed Trump a framed photograph that the Israeli chief stated confirmed a baby who has been held hostage by Hamas-led fighters because the first hours of the warfare. “We’ll get it taken care of,” Trump assured him.
Trump’s marketing campaign stated he pledged within the assembly to “make each effort to carry peace to the Center East” and fight antisemitism on faculty campuses if American voters elect him to the presidency in November.
Trump was ready for Netanyahu on the stone steps exterior his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Seaside, Florida, the place he warmly clasped the palms of the Israeli chief. Each males have a powerful curiosity in resuming their relationship, together with for the political assist and luster their alliance brings.
“We’ve all the time had a terrific relationship,” Trump insisted earlier than journalists. Requested as the 2 sat down in a muraled room for talks if Netanyahu’s journey to Mar-a-Lago was repairing their bond, Trump responded, “It was by no means unhealthy.”
As president, Donald Trump went properly past his predecessors in fulfilling Netanyahu’s high needs from the US. But by the point Trump left the White Home, relations had soured, with Trump publicly criticizing Netanyahu as disloyal regardless of the opposite man’s efforts to fix ties.
For each males, Friday’s assembly was geared toward highlighting for his or her dwelling audiences in the US and Israel their depiction of themselves as sturdy leaders who’ve gotten large issues executed on the world stage, and might once more.
Netanyahu’s Florida journey adopted a fiery tackle to a joint assembly of Congress on Wednesday that defended his far-right authorities’s conduct of the warfare and condemned American protesters galvanized by the killing of greater than 39,000 Palestinians within the battle.
On Thursday, Netanyahu had met in Washington with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Each pressed the Israeli chief to work rapidly to wrap up a deal to carry a cease-fire and launch hostages.
Netanyahu is more and more accused at dwelling of prolonging the warfare to stave off the collapse of his authorities when the battle ends.
For Trump, now the Republican presidential nominee, the assembly was an opportunity to be forged as an ally and statesman, in addition to to sharpen efforts by Republicans to painting themselves because the occasion most loyal to Israel.
Divisions among Americans over U.S. assist for Israel’s warfare in opposition to Hamas in Gaza have opened cracks in years of sturdy bipartisan backing for Israel, the largest recipient of U.S. support. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist group by the US, Canada and the European Union.
For Netanyahu, repairing relations with Trump is crucial given the prospect that Trump might as soon as once more turn out to be president of the US, which is Israel’s very important arms provider and protector.
One political gamble for Netanyahu is whether or not he might get extra of the phrases he needs in any deal on a Gaza cease-fire and hostage launch, and in his a lot hoped-for closing of a normalization take care of Saudi Arabia, if he waits out the Biden administration in hopes that Trump wins.
“Benjamin Netanyahu has spent a lot of his profession within the final twenty years in tethering himself to the Republican Social gathering,” stated Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. diplomat for Arab-Israeli negotiations, now a senior fellow on the Carnegie Endowment for Worldwide Peace.
For the subsequent six months, which means “mending ties with an irascible, indignant president,” Miller stated, which means Trump.
Trump broke off with Netanyahu in early 2021. That was after the Israeli prime minister turned one of many first world leaders to congratulate Biden for his presidential election victory, disregarding Trump’s false declare he had gained.
“Bibi might have stayed quiet,” Trump stated in an interview with an Israel newspape again then. “He made a horrible mistake.”
Netanyahu and Trump final met at a September 2020 White Home signing ceremony for the signature diplomatic achievement of each males’s political careers. It was an accord brokered by the Trump administration wherein the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed to ascertain regular diplomatic relations with Israel.
For Israel, it amounted to the 2 international locations formally recognizing it for the primary time. It was a significant step in what Israel hopes can be an easing of tensions and a broadening of financial ties with its Arab neighbors.
In public postings and statements after his break with Netanyahu, Trump portrayed himself as having caught his neck out for Israel as president, and Netanyahu paying him again with disloyalty.
He additionally has criticized Netanyahu on different factors, faulting him as “not ready” for the Oct. 7 Hamas assaults that began the warfare in Gaza, for instance.
In his high-profile speech to Congress on Wednesday, Netanyahu gave recognition to Biden, who has saved up navy and diplomatic assist for Israel’s offensive in Gaza regardless of opposition from inside his Democratic Social gathering.
However Netanyahu poured reward on Trump, calling the regional accords Trump helped dealer historic and thanking him “for all of the issues he did for Israel.”
Netanyahu listed actions by the Trump administration long-sought by Israeli governments — the U.S. formally saying Israel had sovereignty over the Golan Heights, captured from Syria throughout a 1967 warfare; a more durable U.S. coverage towards Iran; and Trump declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel, breaking with longstanding U.S. coverage that Jerusalem’s standing must be determined in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
“I appreciated that,” Trump informed “Fox & Pals” on Thursday, referring to Netanyahu’s reward.
He didn’t quiet his criticism, nonetheless, of Israel’s conduct of the warfare, which has killed greater than 39,000 Palestinians.
“I would like him to complete up and get it executed rapidly. You gotta get it executed rapidly, as a result of they’re getting decimated along with his publicity,” Trump stated in Thursday’s interview.
“Israel will not be excellent at public relations, I’ll inform you that,” he added.
Trump has repeatedly urged that Israel with U.S. assist “end the job” in Gaza and destroy Hamas, however he hasn’t elaborated on how.
Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel and Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida contributed. Colvin and Worth reported from New York.
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