Former US President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the former’s Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida on Friday (local time). During the meeting, the Republican nominee in the 2024 US presidential race claimed that the present-day global conflicts could escalate into the Third World War should he lose the November 5 polls.
This was Netanyahu and Trump’s first meeting in four years, and it came after the Israeli leader addressed the US Congress and met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House.
Trump, whose relations with Netanyahu soured after the latter congratulated Biden on his victory after the 2020 presidential election, greeted the Israeli leader and his wife Sara warmly, telling reporters that the two men have “a very good relationship.” He also stressed on the policy changes during his presidency including moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and pulling the United States out of the international nuclear deal with Iran.
The 78-year-old US leader has recently criticized Netanyahu for Israeli security failures that enabled Hamas to carry out the October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
At Mar-a-Lago, Trump criticized his Democrat rival Harris and told reporters that she is “worse” on Middle East issues. He claimed Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza could expand into a wider regional conflict if Harris succeeds Biden, who announced on Sunday he would not seek re-election.
“We’ll see how it goes. But if it all works out, if we win, it’ll be very simple. It’s all going to work out. And very quickly,” Fox News quoted Trump as saying.
“If we don’t, you’re going to end up with major wars in the Middle East. And maybe a third World War. You are closer to a third World War right now than at any time since the Second World War. We’ve never been so close because we have incompetent people running the country,” he added.
Netanyahu said he hoped his US trip would lead to a quicker ceasefire deal. “I hope so. But I think time will tell,” he told reporters, as per a Reuters report.
He said he thought there had been movement in efforts to forge a ceasefire because of Israeli military pressure and said he would dispatch a team to talks in Rome.
Israel’s US Interest
Opinion polls have put Harris and Trump in a close race for the White House, prompting world leaders like Netanyahu, traditionally more aligned with Trump’s Republicans than Biden’s Democrats, to strike a balance in dealings with the US.
Harris had pressed Netanyahu on the suffering of Palestinians in the enclave in talks on Thursday that were watched for signs of how she might shift American policy if she becomes president. “I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there,” Harris said.
“I will not be silent,” she said adding, “Israel has a right to defend itself. And how it does so matters.”
As per the Reuters report, Members of Netanyahu’s delegation were disappointed by some of Harris’ remarks in private and in public out of concern that it showed “daylight” between the governments and could signal how relations would develop if she wins the presidency, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Netanyahu heads a far-right-leaning coalition government opposed to Palestinian statehood, a policy at odds with US support for a two-state solution to ending decades of conflict.
In defiant remarks to Congress on Wednesday, Netanyahu defended Israel’s military and dismissed criticism of a campaign that has devastated Gaza and killed more than 39,000 people, according to health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave.
Dozens of Democrats boycotted Netanyahu’s speech, voicing dismay over the thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza, the destruction of its infrastructure, and the displacement of most of its 2.3 million people.
In Wednesday’s speech, Netanyahu praised Biden’s support for Israel. But to cheers from Republicans, he touched on Trump’s pro-Israel record as president. He praised Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a long-held goal of conservatives that infuriated Palestinians.
He also cited the Abraham Accords, landmark US-brokered agreements signed during Trump’s White House years that normalized bilateral relations between Israel and both Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Gaza War
Hamas and its allies killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages in the October 7 attack, according to Israeli tallies. Some 115 hostages are still being held though Israel believes one in three are dead.
Israeli officials estimate that some 14,000 fighters from militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been killed or taken prisoner out of a force they estimated to number more than 25,000 at the start of the war.
