Donald Trump rebukes Benjamin Netanyahu, meets with Volodymyr Zelensky at White House before Lindsey Graham funeral
Washington: Donald Trump publicly rebuked Benjamin Netanyahu for his plans to escalate the war in Iran as the two men met at the White House for the first time since the conflict began five months ago.
The Israeli leader made an understated entrance from the side entrance of the West Wing, and the meeting with the US president and some senior members of the administration was closed to the media.
But just hours earlier, Trump had expressed disappointment at reports that Netanyahu was trying to provide information to Israeli intelligence that Iran had strengthened Mount Kazma, an underground nuclear site near the Natanz uranium enrichment facility.
“I don’t need Bibi to tell me that,” Trump told Fox News, using an affectionate term for the Israeli Prime Minister. “Bibi tells me this because she wants me to stay involved… We have the best cameras in the world. [Pickaxe Mountain]We know exactly what happened.”
New York Post He announced on Tuesday (US time) that Netanyahu will use the visit to: Available evidence of Iran’s ongoing nuclear activity and prove that Tehran is not negotiating in good faith, citing a source in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu did not publicly say what he wanted to say to Trump, but the US president appeared to interpret this news as a statement from Netanyahu.
“I heard Bibi announce this.” Trump told Fox News. “’Why don’t you tell me, why do you have to announce it to the world?’ I said. “I know exactly what’s going on at Pickaxe, it’s not a big problem.”
Trump repeated his threat to destroy the facility if a deal is not reached with the Iranians. He also spoke of “competing factions” within the Republican Party; Some of them wanted him to step up the strikes, while others preferred a diplomatic solution.
It is not yet clear whether Netanyahu provided Trump with intelligence about Mount Kazma or any other Iranian nuclear facility. The meeting lasted just over an hour.
In the photos taken by the Israeli government from the meeting, Trump was smiling and there is no possibility of a conflict between the two leaders. But the president’s willingness to publicly push back against Netanyahu is an indication that relations are more tense than before the war.
Trump’s observation that Netanyahu “wants me involved” or is trying to prolong the war is also a frank admission of the prevailing dynamic between the two leaders.
The Israeli prime minister is in Washington primarily for the funeral of Republican senator Lindsey Graham, who died suddenly earlier this month of what preliminary medical reports said was an aortic rupture. The long-serving senator was a close friend of Israel and a cheerleader for U.S. military intervention in Iran and elsewhere.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also traveled to Washington for the funeral and held a similarly private White House meeting with Trump just an hour before Netanyahu.
Zelenksy said it was a good meeting that discussed U.S. plans to allow Ukraine to license production of Patriot missile interceptors and “some other ideas that might be helpful” in the war against Russia.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said both meetings were “positive and productive.”
After arriving from Israel on Monday night, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, attended a private memorial dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington with Graham’s family, friends and several Trump administration officials.
According to his office, Netanyahu said at the meeting: “America has lost a great patriot. Israel has lost one of its greatest friends and supporters. I have lost a close friend.”
US news site Axios reported that the dinner was hosted by Lebanese banker and filmmaker Antoun Sehnaoui and Trump’s former deputy Middle East ambassador Morgan Ortagus.
Other attendees included Meta president Dina Powell McCormick, Trump aide Stephen Miller and his wife Katie, and a group of Republican and Democratic senators, including Darline Graham, who took her late brother’s Senate seat.
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political correspondent in Canberra.Connect with: X or email.
