Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with former U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
During the meeting, the former president criticized Vice President Kamala Harris saying her "remarks on Israel were disrespectful."
The remarks Trump was referring to were made during Netanyahu's meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden and Harris at the White House on Thursday, Netanyahu tried to persuade Harris that reports of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and about large numbers of civilian casualties during the fighting were unfounded.
Shortly after the meeting ended, the vice-president made her call for a long-term cease-fire. "It's time for this war to end and end in a way where Israel is secure, all the hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can exercise their right to freedom, dignity and self-determination," she said, adding that the meeting had been "frank and constructive."
At the conclusion of the meeting between Netanyahu and Trump, the former president told reporters that he "always had a very good relationship to Netanyahu" and that the "hostages need to be given back immediately."
Netanyahu, sitting across from Trump at a table alongside advisers, said Israel would be dispatching a negotiating team to Gaza cease-fire talks in Rome "probably at the beginning of the week."
Netanyahu then told reporters that he thinks "there has been movement in talks due to military pressure," and that "time will tell if we're closer to a cease-fire deal."
Israel places great weight on his meeting with Trump in an effort to placate the presidential candidate and renew contact between the two
The relationship between the two became strained four years ago when, according to Trump, Netanyahu "hurried to congratulate" Biden on winning the elections. In the past weeks, Netanyahu has made an effort to defuse tensions with Trump and called to congratulate him ahead of the Fourth of July.
Later, following the attempted assassination of Trump, Netanyahu released an English-language statement containing well-wishes. Until recently, Trump, on his side, continued to criticize Netanyahu.
In April, Trump said during an interview with Time Magazine that Netanyahu is being rightly criticized for what happened on October 7. "It happened under his watch, and I think it had a major impact on him."
According to Trump, "Israel had all the equipment and information needed to prevent it, thousands knew about it, but Israel didn't." He mentioned the American assassination of the Iranian Quds Force commander, Qassem Soleimani, in January 2020, as a crisis between the leaders. "I had a bad experience with Netanyahu surrounded the Soleimani assassination. Netanyahu had disappeared right before the operation was carried out. And I asked, what is this? I haven't forgotten about that," said Trump.
During Netanyahu's meeting with Biden, Biden raised the need to close gaps to reach a cease-fire in Gaza, remove obstacles in flow of aid and protect civilian lives in military operations. Netanyahu and Biden then met with families of the hostages being held in Gaza. According to the Prime Minister's Office, the meeting lasted around one hour. The subject of the hostages was central to the discussion between Biden and Netanyahu.
Father of Israeli hostage Itay Chen said after the meeting that Biden 'gave us hope that something will happen in the coming days.'
2024-07-26T19:00:05Z dg43tfdfdgfd