President Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida on Monday in the hopes of advancing the ceasefire deal that the president brokered in Gaza. Ahead of their closed-door meeting, Netanyahu also met with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The meeting between Trump and Netanyahu comes one day after the president hosted Ukrainian President Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago as part of the U.S. bid to negotiate a peace deal with Russia.
Prior to the meeting, Trump told reporters that the two leaders will discuss the need for Hamas to disarm, Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs, and Syria’s new government. Netanyahu, standing beside Trump, praised the President: “I’ll say it again and again and again, we’ve never had a friend like President Trump in the White House. It’s not even close. And I think you can judge that by not merely by the frequency of our meetings, but by the content and the intensity.” Trump responded, “Well, I just want to say that it’s very important who the prime minister and president of Israel is. We have a great relationship. He can be very difficult on occasion, but you need a strong man. If you had a weak man, you wouldn’t have Israel right now. Israel would have been, you know, Israel, with most other leaders, would not exist today.”
Standing alongside Netanyahu after the meeting’s conclusion, Trump said the talks with Netanyahu were productive, but disagreements remain over the occupied West Bank. Trump also said Hamas “will be given a very short period of time” to disarm to move to the second phase of his Gaza peace plan or “there will be hell to pay;” adding that Israel has “100%” lived up to the plan. Trump said of Hamas, “They’re going to be given a very short period of time to disarm. And we’ll see how that works out. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be in charge of that, from our side. But if they don’t disarm, as they agreed to do — they agreed to it — then there will be hell to pay for them. And we don’t want that. We’re not looking for that. But they have to disarm within a fairly short period of time.” Trump added: “we have 59 countries that signed on, big countries, countries that are outside of the Middle East as you know the Middle East. They want to go in and wipe out Hamas. They don’t want Israel, they don’t need Israel; they want to do it because it’s the right thing to do. Because they were for the deal, based on the fact that Hamas pledged, they swore, that they were going to disarm. Now, if they’re not going to disarm, those same countries will wipe out Hamas.”
Trump also threatened Iran with potential consequences, saying that Iran “may be behaving badly” and suggesting the country was trying to rebuild nuclear sites after the U.S. struck three of them this year: “If it’s confirmed, look, there will be consequences. Consequences will be very powerful, maybe more powerful than last time.” In response, Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, said that “any aggression will receive a strong, immediate response that goes beyond what the attacker expects,” (per the state-run Nour News agency).
Netanyahu said he had a “very, very productive meeting” with the president, and he thanked him for his partnership, and said that Mr. Trump would receive the Israel Prize, the most prestigious award in Israel, for his work on the peace negotiations. Netanyahu told reporters: “We’ve never awarded it to a non-Israeli. And we’re going to award it this year to President Trump.”
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