Trump meets with Netanyahu for first time since departing White House

By CNN

Published July 26, 2024 12:04 PM

CNN

By Alayna Treene and Kylie Atwood, CNN

(CNN) — Former President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, the first such meeting between the two men since Trump left the White House more than three years ago.

The meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence was requested by Netanyahu, sources familiar with the planning told CNN. It comes on the heels of the prime minister’s address to Congress and meetings with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House. Harris, now the presumptive Democratic nominee, conveyed a forcefulness on civilian suffering and ending the war following her time with the prime minister.

Netanyahu said Friday that he hoped Harris’ comments would not make a ceasefire deal harder to reach.

“I think to the extent that Hamas understands there’s no daylight between Israel and the United States, that expedites the deal,” said Netanyahu to reporters at his meeting with Trump. “And I would hope that those comments don’t change that.”

Trump said Harris was “disrespectful to Israel” in her remarks to reporters after her meeting with Netanyahu.

“I think her remarks were disrespectful,” Trump told CNN’s Kristen Holmes on Friday. “They weren’t very nice pertaining to Israel. I actually don’t know how a person who is Jewish could vote for her, but that’s up to them.”

Ahead of Netanyahu’s remarks, Harris’ office rejected on Friday the suggestion originally from a senior Israeli official that the vice president’s remarks could have made a ceasefire deal harder to reach.

“I don’t know what they’re talking about,” a Harris aide told CNN, in response to a senior Israeli official being quoted in The Times of Israel.

“President Biden and Vice President Harris delivered the same message in their private meetings to Prime Minister Netanyahu: it is time to get the ceasefire and hostage deal done,” the aide to the vice president told reporters, adding that Harris’ meeting with Netanyahu was “serious and collegial.”

Friday marks an opportunity for Trump and Netanyahu to reset relations at critical moments in both the war between Israel and Hamas and the 2024 election cycle.

Trump, who often claims he was the most pro-Israel president in modern history, once touted his close, personal relationship with Netanyahu. However, their relationship has soured in recent years, and the former president has been reluctant to speak with him throughout the ongoing conflict.

In the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ attack on Israel, Trump criticized Netanyahu for his handling of the war, claiming to Fox News at the time the prime minister and the country overall were “unprepared.”

Part of that criticism, which Trump has continued in the months since, stems from his complicated relationship with Netanyahu, one that a former Trump administration official described as “a love-hate relationship,” who added that the two leaders experienced a dramatic up and down in recent years.

During his administration Trump enacted multiple policies to Israel’s benefit, including moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights and backing multiple countries in Middle East and North Africa to normalize relations with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords. Netanyahu called Trump the greatest friend Israel has ever had and heralded him for “unequivocally” standing by Israel during Trump’s tenure as commander in chief.

But the relationship grew bitter after the 2020 presidential election when Netanyahu congratulated Biden on his victory – something that infuriated the former president who considered the move disloyal. “F**k him,” Trump told Axios at the time.

Trump has also claimed that Netanyahu betrayed him in the final months of his presidency, arguing that Israel, at the 11th hour, declined to participate in the 2020 airstrike that killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. Netanyahu “let us down,” Trump said at a rally in October 2023.

Two sources close to Trump, meanwhile, said they are aware of attempted outreach by Netanyahu in recent months, including seeking communications through informal channels.

And in March, Trump allies — led by Keith Kellogg, a leading national security adviser to the former president who also served in the Trump administration — traveled to Israel to discuss the current conflict in Gaza, though the Trump campaign said it had learned of those meetings after the fact.

Many Israelis presume that Trump would give Netanyahu a longer leash to use greater force in Gaza. Trump has said that Israel must “finish what they started,” “get it over with fast,” and that the US must “let Israel finish the job.”

A senior Trump campaign adviser told CNN that Trump’s willingness to meet with Netanyahu despite their fraught relationship shows that Trump “is willing to put any personal or political differences to the side and develop or reconnect with him, to develop a working relationship with him.”

“It shows the evolution of how Trump will conduct himself in a second term,” the adviser added.

Sources familiar with the meeting said that there is no set agenda or overarching message that Trump wants to convey. However, the former president has repeatedly said that, if elected in November, he would seek a speedy end to the conflict in the Middle East without offering details of how he would do so. Instead, he’s argued the war must come to a swift close because the country is “losing the PR war.”

Asked about the meeting during an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Trump said: “I want him to finish up and get it done quickly. You gotta get it done quickly, because they are getting decimated with this publicity. And you know, Israel is not very good at public relations.”

He also asserted during the interview that the October 7 attack wouldn’t have happened if he were president, a claim he repeats frequently on the campaign trail.

Arab Americans who have said they will support Trump will also be watching the meeting on Friday closely, they told CNN. They were “saddened and bewildered” when Trump called Biden a Palestinian in a derogatory manner during the debate last month, said Bishara Bahbah, who lives in Arizona and has worked to rally the Arab-American community for Trump after the lifelong Democrat soured on Biden over his approach to the Israel-Hamas war.

Bahbah, however, has maintained support for Trump despite the derogatory rhetoric toward Palestinians last month. He pointed to Trump’s move to share a recent letter on his social media platform from Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas ahead of Friday’s meeting. The letter was sent after the assassination attempt on the 2024 Republican presidential nominee.

“Looking forward to seeing Bibi Netanyahu on Friday, and even more forward to achieving Peace in the Middle East!” Trump posted to Truth Social with the letter.

In posting that engagement with Abbas, Trump was trying to “strike a balance” going into the meeting, Bahbah said, adding that he hopes Trump will come out of the Netanyahu meeting calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.

Jewish supporters of Trump are hoping the former president asks Netanyahu what he needs to win the ongoing war, explained Lee Zeldin, a Jewish Republican and Trump supporter.

“At the table, the most important question is asking the prime minister what he needs to win. What does Israel need that they don’t yet have?” Zeldin, a former congressman, said. “That conversation about ensuring victory and pursuing a lasting peace is the most important fundamental threshold in my opinion.”

Zeldin added that Jewish Americans will be watching the meeting closely because they hope that Trump, if he were to win the November election, would “pick up where he left off” in terms of putting policies into place that support Israel.

Trump finds himself in a distinct position given he was president just over three years ago and has longstanding relations with many of the foreign leaders now arriving on his doorstep.

He has met with a series of foreign leaders in recent months, including hosting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron at Mar-a-Lago, and dining with Polish President Andrzej Duda and former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso at Trump Tower in New York during his hush money trial, among other meetings. He has also spoken by phone with several world leaders, including with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is currently working with the US to normalize relations with Israel.

The Trump adviser argued that the meetings reflect the reality of the former president’s poll numbers, adding that many foreign leaders want to ensure they have strong ties to him in the event he wins in November.

“It could signify that they think Trump is best positioned to be the next president, and they want to get a head start on developing a real relationship with him,” the adviser said.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.