5 Key Points Which Emerged From Trump-Netanyahu Meeting

NEW YORK (VINnews) — Donald Trump hosted Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for lunch at Mar-a-Lago on Monday. In remarks to reporters before, during and after their meeting, the two leaders said that they were in broad agreement on most issues, from next steps in Gaza and the possibility of bombing Iran again, to how deserving Trump is of receiving another award.

The Guardian discussed five key points which emerged from the meeting:

1. Trump claims unnamed countries ‘want to go in and wipe out Hamas’ if they fail to disarm. Asked about the dispute between Israel and Hamas over whether the terrorist group a has indeed agreed to disarm, Trump said: “They’re gonna be given a very short period of time to disarm … but if they don’t disarm, as they agreed to do, then there will be hell to pay for them.”

Pressed further on what would happen if Hamas does not disarm, Trump said: “It’ll be horrible for them.” He then claimed that some unnamed countries that previously supported Hamas were now willing to attack them if they do not disarm. “Now if they’re not going to disarm, those same countries will wipe out Hamas,” Trump said. The president’s claim seemed to be in reference to the international stabilization force authorized by the UN security council as part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement. None of the nations that could take part in that force, however, have pledged to do anything other than serve as peacekeepers.

2. Trump voiced support for new Israeli strikes on Iran over missile program. As soon as he greeted Netanyahu, Trump was asked if he would support a new Israeli attack on Iran, to curb its ballistic missile capabilities, which the Israeli prime minister was reportedly pressing for. “If they will continue with the missiles, yes,” Trump said. He added that if Iran has resumed work on “the nuclear”, the US was prepared to strike “immediately”.

In later remarks at the post-lunch news conference, Trump seemed to conflate Iran’s nuclear program and its missile buildup, leaving it unclear whether the US might see the missiles alone as a cause for war. (The 2016 Iran nuclear deal, entered into by the Obama administration and scrapped by Trump, constrained Iran’s nuclear development, but not its missile capabilities.)

“Speaking of Iran, I hope they’re not trying to build up again, because if they are, we’re going to have no choice but very quickly eradicate that buildup. So I hope Iran is not trying to build up, as I’ve been reading that they’re building up weapons and other things,” the president said.

“I hope they’re not doing it, because we don’t want to waste the fuel on a B-2; it’s a 37-hour trip, both ways,” Trump added. “I don’t want to waste a lot of fuel.”

3. Trump said that he disagrees with Netanyahu over Judea and Samaria, but won’t say how. Asked about a wave of violence by Israeli settlers in the region, Trump said that he did discuss the territory with Netanyahu. “I wouldn’t say we agree on the West Bank a hundred percent,” Trump said, “but we’ll come to a conclusion on the West Bank.” When he was pressed to say what the disagreement is about, Trump refused to answer, saying, “it will be announced at an appropriate time, but he will do the right thing”, gesturing at Netanyahu. There have been persistent reports that the Trump administration is opposed to the formal annexation of the territory.

4. Trump claimed that Israel’s president told him a pardon for Netanyahu was ‘on its way’. Before their lunch, Trump said that Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, told him a pardon for Netanyahu was “on its way”, which Herzog’s office was quick to dispute.

“How do you not give a pardon?” Trump said. “I spoke to the president,” Trump said of Herzog. “He tells me it’s on its way.” When reporters relayed that claim to Herzog’s office, the Israeli president’s aides said that he had not had any conversations with Trump since a pardon request was submitted several weeks ago.

Netanyahu, Israel’s first sitting prime minister to be charged with a crime, denies bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges dating back to his 2019 indictment.

5. Netanyahu says Trump will be the first non-Israeli to win the Israel prize.
After Trump was caught on camera before lunch appearing to complain about not receiving a Nobel peace prize, despite his claim to have settled eight war, Netanyahu revealed that Trump would be the first non-Israeli to receive the Israel prize, for his “special contribution to the Jewish people”.

In a video clip posted online by Netanyahu’s office, he could be seen holding up his phone for Israel’s education minister to inform Trump that he was being given the award for, among other things, his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, his recognition of Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights and scrapping the Iran nuclear deal during his first term, and his recent efforts to secure the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza. “You forgot the B-2s,” Netanyahu joked, in reference to the US bombers that attacked Iran’s suspected nuclear sites this year. “Add it!”

Before their meeting, Trump falsely claimed that “every hostage, just about, that was released was released because of me … none were released in the Biden administration.” In fact, 107 hostages were released in 2023, when Joe Biden was president.