Former US President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, seeking to downplay past tensions by calling for hostages held by Hamas to “be returned immediately.”
Speaking alongside Netanyahu during a meeting at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump said their relationship “has never been bad… we’ve always had a very good relationship.”
The two were close while Trump was in office, but the relationship soured in late 2020. Trump criticized Netanyahu after he congratulated President Joe Biden on his 2020 election victory and later criticized him for backing down from an operation to kill former Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Qasem Soleimani.
Trump on Friday also criticized his presumptive Democratic opponent Kamala Harris’s call for a cease-fire and criticism of the intense humanitarian suffering in Gaza. “I think her comments were disrespectful,” he said.
Netanyahu’s far-right allies also attacked Harris for her comments Wednesday night after meeting with Netanyahu, in which she expressed more empathy for Palestinian suffering and struck a tougher tone toward Israel than Biden. “There will be no cessation of war, Madam Candidate,” Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s ultranationalist national security minister, wrote in the X.
Biden administration officials say they are very close to reaching a hostage cease-fire deal that has proven elusive for months.
Netanyahu said Friday he hopes to be close to a deal and is “looking forward to having one.” He said he plans to send negotiators to Rome next week to continue discussions. CIA Director Bill Burns will also travel to Rome this weekend to participate in the talks, which will also include officials from Qatar and Egypt.
Biden hopes that securing a cease-fire deal will burnish his legacy as a one-term president and has vowed to work toward that end as long as he remains in power. He spoke with Jordan’s King Abdullah by phone on Friday as part of those efforts.
With the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, set to go into summer recess next week, diplomats are hopeful that Netanyahu will face less pressure from far-right members of his coalition who have threatened to topple his government if he agrees to a deal. The Knesset will not return to session until late October, largely putting on hold any immediate threat to the prime minister’s rule.
Trump also called for an end to the fighting in Gaza, telling Fox News ahead of his meeting with Netanyahu that Israel must end the war “and do it quickly.” He said Israel was “being decimated” by negative publicity over its handling of the war. According to his campaign’s account of the meeting, Trump “pledged that when he returns to the White House, he will do everything he can to bring peace to the Middle East.”
With information from the Financial Times
Source: https://www.ocafezinho.com/2024/07/27/donald-trump-nega-ruptura-com-benjamin-netanyahu/
