Netanyahu and Trump Discuss Fate of Middle East

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Tuesday for the first time since Trump’s return to the White House to discuss national security issues in the Middle East, including Israel’s war with Hamas.

At two separate press conferences Tuesday, Trump struck a friendly tone with his Israeli counterpart.

“We have the right man, we have the right leader of Israel. He’s done a great job, and we’ve been friends for a long time,” the 47th president said.

Trump appeared optimistic about the possibility of Israel normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia and told the assembled press that the Saudis were not demanding a Palestinian state.

He added that he felt certain countries will take in Palestinian refugees from Gaza.

“Well, I think Jordan and Egypt will,” Trump said. “I say they will.” He also added that some countries had already reached out to help resettle the Palestinians in Gaza. When asked about Qatar in particular, Trump said, “Qatar is absolutely trying to help.”

The president said that the only reason the Palestinians displaced during the war wanted to go back to Gaza was because there was no alternative. “You can’t live in Gaza right now,” he said. Instead, Trump proposed that the United States take over Gaza and rebuild it.

“Level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area,” Trump said. The president spoke of the many jobs and the opportunities for tourism an American Gaza could have for the region.

He said the area would become the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

When Netanyahu spoke, he reiterated his previously stated goals: “I support getting all the hostages out and meeting all our war goals that include destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities and making sure that Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again.” 

“We’re not going to give up on any of them,” he said of the remaining hostages held by Hamas. 

For his part, the Israeli prime minister faces countervailing pressures from his right and left to end the truce with Hamas and destroy the terrorist group while simultaneously saving as many Israeli lives as possible.

Netanyahu also testified this week in his corruption trial back in Israel that is part of three separate cases against him, including fraud and bribery. The trial complicates his calculations regarding the war, given that there is a possibility he will go to prison after he ceases being prime minister.

The Trump meeting comes in light of the president’s ongoing support for the Jewish state. During his first term, Trump recognized Israel’s right to the Golan Heights, moved the United States embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and negotiated the groundbreaking Abraham Accords. 

Israel has claimed the Golan Heights, which is a plateau to the east of Israel proper, since it took the territory from Syria after the 1967 Six-Day War. It administered the region through the military until 1981, when Israel’s parliament normalized the region under Israeli law. After Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria fell late last year, Netanyahu sent troops to secure the demilitarized buffer zone in the Heights. The United States remains one of Israel’s strongest supporters when it comes to Israel keeping the territory.

Since passing the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, the United States had promised to fulfill its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital by moving its embassy there. That law sought to locate the embassy in the holy city by 1999 but allowed for the president to defer the move based on national security concerns. President Bill Clinton and all subsequent presidents, both Republican and Democrat, deferred the move until Trump initiated it during his first term and moved the embassy there in 2018. 

The Abraham Accords, named after the biblical Jewish patriarch Abraham, who is revered by both Jews and Muslims, was a first Trump administration-negotiated agreement that normalized relations between the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain with Israel. The agreement has been a boon to the economies of those nations with an estimated $4 billion in trade occurring among them in 2023. The agreement has also led to increased military cooperation, with the UAE Air Force participating with Israel in joint military exercises. 

As for what Trump and Netanyahu discussed behind closed doors Tuesday, some foreign policy experts expected Trump asked Netanyahu for a long-lasting ceasefire with Hamas that would enable Saudi Arabia and Israel to finally normalize their relations. In an interview with the Washington Post, James Jeffrey, a diplomat who worked for Trump during his first term, said that he thinks the president will push for a permanent ceasefire in the talks.

The current ceasefire deal was reached through the help of then-President Joe Biden’s envoy Brett McGurk and Steve Witkoff, who now serves formally as Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East. The deal facilitated the release of 18 Israeli hostages thus far from Hamas in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Thirty-three total hostages are expected to be released in Phase One of the deal, if it holds. 

Trump and Netanyahu’s relationship has been strained at times. The then-presidential candidate met with the prime minister back in July 2024 at the latter’s request. It had been the first time the men had publicly spoken in person since Trump had left the White House in 2021. Reporting at the time was that Trump had been annoyed that Netanyahu quickly congratulated Joe Biden on his 2020 presidential win. He also blamed Netanyahu for pulling out at the last minute in the effort to kill Qassem Soleimani, one of Iran’s highest-ranking generals who operated with near impunity in the Middle East. 

“We had everything all set to go, and the night before it happened, I got a call that Israel will not be participating in this attack,” Trump told the public in 2023. “I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down.” On Tuesday, though, Trump stressed cooperation and vowed to never let Iran get a nuclear weapon. 

“We have a lot of fires, but we’ll put them out.”

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