President Donald Trump’s Monday meeting in Florida with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu generated loads of heat phrases — however no clear progress in their peace plan for Gaza.
The leaders held a non-public lunch at Mar-a-Lago geared toward figuring out a collection of points in the Middle East, as the 2 sides attempt to cement an enduring finish to Israel’s battle with Hamas and guarantee broader peace all through the area.
Trump on the outset of the session informed reporters that he deliberate to talk with Netanyahu about “five major subjects,” later suggesting that they’d come near settling three of them throughout the first 5 minutes of their session.
In addition to Gaza, Trump indicated plans to deal with points in the occupied West Bank and potential threats posed by Iran.
But greater than an hour later, the 2 emerged with no new milestones to announce.
Instead, they have been seemingly content material to bathe reward on one another, with Netanyahu going so far as to announce that he deliberate to award Trump with Israel’s highest civilian excellence honor.
“President Trump has broken so many conventions to surprise people, so we decided to break a convention or create a new one,” Netanyahu mentioned.
Netanyahu’s go to marked the second major trip to Mar-a-Lago by a overseas chief in as many days, as Trump engages in an end-of-year foreign policy flurry.
Here are the takeaways from Monday’s meeting:
Trump and Netanyahu spent a lot of their time in public collectively exchanging compliments, as each sought to indicate their relationship stays higher than ever regardless of the occasional strains of the previous yr — and Trump’s rising wariness of a few of Israel’s actions amid his efforts to maintain peace in the Middle East.
“We’ve never had a friend like President Trump in the White House. It’s not even close,” Netanyahu mentioned upon his arrival.
Trump returned the favor moments later, asserting that “Israel, with most other leaders, would not exist today.”
“The relationship’s been extraordinary,” Trump mentioned.
The flattery solely intensified from there, capped by Netanyahu’s announcement that he would make Trump the primary non-Israeli recipient of the Israel Prize for Peace.
Trump, who known as the award “really surprising and very much appreciated,” praised Netanyahu as a “wartime” chief and downplayed issues that Israel will not be transferring fast enough toward the subsequent section of the Gaza peace deal. He as a substitute put the onus virtually totally on Hamas.
But he did acknowledge ongoing divisions between the US and Israel, mainly over the West Bank. Trump has opposed Israel annexing the area, aligning himself with many Western and Arab nations on the difficulty. The Israeli authorities, in the meantime, has mentioned annexing components of the West Bank in the previous and intensified its military operations in the world because the Hamas assaults of October 7, 2023.
“We’ve had a discussion, big discussion, for a long time on the West Bank, and I wouldn’t say we agree on the West Bank 100%,” Trump informed NCS’s Kevin Liptak.
Trump and Netanyahu additionally failed to achieve an settlement on transferring to the second section of the US-brokered peace plan for Gaza — a sticking level that’s slowed work towards everlasting peace and an eventual rebuilding effort.
Trump on Monday downplayed the shortage of progress, insisting that he was “not concerned” about Israel’s actions in the area, despite the fact that its navy has killed hundreds of Palestinians because the ceasefire took impact in October. Instead, he argued the plan’s success relies upon primarily on Hamas agreeing to disarmament.
But that’s unlikely to alleviate issues throughout the Trump administration that Netanyahu is slow-walking the transfer to the subsequent section, leaving the US mired in the Middle East at a second when Republicans are urging Trump to show his focus to home issues.
Trump appeared to allude to the issue of the negotiations at one level, suggesting that Netanyahu was skeptical of giving “second chances” in an effort to make sure the ceasefire stays everlasting. Still, he informed reporters that “Israel’s lived up to the plan 100%.”
“They’re strong. They’re solid,” Trump mentioned.
Trump had a far clearer message on Iran, amid Israel’s warnings that the nation is attempting to rebuild its missile capabilities following US strikes on a trio of nuclear websites earlier this yr.
The president vowed to strike Iran once more if he decided the nation was pursuing an growth of its ballistic missile program, saying he’d heard indications of constructing at new websites throughout the nation.
“I hear that Iran is trying to build up again, and if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down,” he mentioned, including, “We’ll knock the hell out of them.”
Trump later threatened “very powerful” penalties for Iran, urging the nation to as a substitute search a cope with the US to keep away from extra navy motion. But he repeatedly struck a pessimistic word even whereas expressing hope that extra strikes could possibly be averted.
“This is just what we hear,” Trump mentioned of Iran’s actions. “Usually, where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
Even apart from Netanyahu’s go to, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago vacation trip has to date been consumed by the assorted overseas entanglements that formed his first yr again in workplace.
In between bidding farewell to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and greeting Netanyahu, Trump spent Monday morning on the telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He later mentioned Putin informed him {that a} Ukrainian drone attack focused considered one of his residences, an allegation that Trump mentioned made him “very angry.”
“This is not the right time,” Trump mentioned, at the same time as he conceded it was attainable the allegation was false.
The president additionally supplied a number of new particulars on an operation he mentioned focused a “big facility” in Venezuela — an incident that turned public solely as a result of he talked about it offhand throughout a previous radio interview.
“It’s an implementation area,” Trump mentioned of the dock that he claimed was getting used to “load the boats up with drugs.”
But he declined to say way more, leaving the subsequent steps in Venezuela — in addition to in Ukraine and the Middle East — unclear by the tip of the day.