Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Florida on Friday for a meeting with former president Donald Trump at a time of political tension between their countries and personal tension between the two men, who were once close allies.
The pair worked closely when Trump was president, but he was incensed when Netanyahu called to congratulate Joe Biden on his 2020 presidential election victory and, since then, has been openly critical of Netanyahu’s management of the war in Gaza.
“Now I’m honored, come on in,” Trump said to Netanyahu upon the prime minister’s arrival at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., according to video that a Trump aide posted on social media. They posed for photos before going inside.
The meeting is the latest stop on a whirlwind trip for the Israeli leader, who on Thursday addressed a joint meeting of Congress and met with President Biden and Vice President Harris, the likely Democratic nominee. The day was thick with tension, including raucous protests of his congressional address.
In her meeting with Netanyahu, Harris implored him to accept a cease-fire deal that would pause the fighting in Gaza and release hostages. U.S. leaders say they are closer than ever to an agreement but finalizing it has remained elusive.
“Let’s get the deal done so we can get a cease-fire to end the war,” Harris told reporters after the White House meeting. She also called for the hostages being held by Hamas to be released and for “much-needed relief to the Palestinian people.”
The Biden administration has been a steadfast supporter of Israel since the conflict began with a deadly terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7. But tensions have increased during the ensuing war as Palestinian casualties mounted and as the United States pressed for a deal that has yet to be finalized. Harris’s remarks appeared aimed at adding pressure on Israel and Hamas to close the remaining gaps.
Trump, too, seems eager for the war to end and has focused his public criticism on the Israeli leader’s public relations management of the conflict.
On “Fox & Friends” on Thursday, Trump said Israel is getting “decimated” by bad publicity over its war with Gaza and said he wants Netanyahu “to finish up and get it done quickly.”
“You got to get it done quickly, because they are getting decimated with this publicity,” Trump said. “And you know, Israel is not very good at public relations.”
Trump marveled that some “Jewish people out there wearing yarmulkes” are pro-Palestinian.
“Israel has to handle their public relations. Their public relations are not good,” Trump said. “And they have got to get this done fast, because the world — the world is not taking lightly to it.”
On this trip, Netanyahu has been forced to walk a delicate political balancing act, having landed just as Biden dropped out of the race, Harris secured the support needed to win the nomination and the general election began in earnest.
Israeli officials note that he needs strong relations with the Biden administration — who no matter what will remain in office for the next six months. But he also wants to smooth things over with Trump, both for his own politics back home and in case Trump returns to the White House.
The prime minister’s conservative base and his most extremist coalition partners openly pine for a Trump victory. They recall his time in office as a golden era for Israel’s right wing: Trump brushed aside many of Washington’s neutral positions, moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem, okaying the annexation of the Golan Heights and declaring that West Bank settlements should not be considered illegal as a matter of policy.
Trump also helped usher in the 2020 Abraham Accords, a set of treaties that normalized relations between Israel and four Arab states: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.
Trump would also be more likely to allow Israel a freer hand with the Gaza war and whatever political and security arrangements follow it, say members of Netanyahu’s conservative base.
Public Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir explicitly endorsed Trump Wednesday, saying he would not hamper Israel’s war fighting, as Biden has. Earlier this month, Ben Gvir beseeched his colleagues to scuttle the U.S.-backed cease-fire deal now being negotiated in Cairo because it would be a “victory” for Biden and a “slap” for Trump.
The prime minister is far more diplomatic, asserting repeatedly that Israel will work closely with whomever becomes president. But Netanyahu has increasingly tied himself to the Republican Party, and he ran multiple election campaigns touting his closeness to Trump. In 2019, his party draped photos of the two of them on Tel Aviv skyscrapers.
Their relationship fractured, though, at the end of Trump’s term. Trump slammed Netanyahu as disloyal when the prime minister called Biden to congratulate him after the 2020 election.
Trump has also told reporters that he blames Netanyahu for pulling Israel out of a 2020 raid in Iran that killed top commander Qasem Soleimani. Trump said that he never thought the prime minister seemed genuinely interested in seeking peace and heaped praise on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. “F— him,” Trump said in a 2021 interview, referring to Netanyahu.
His anger hadn’t faded by April, when he told Time he thought Netanyahu deserved blame for allowing the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7 to occur. “I had a very bad experience with Bibi,” he said.
In other campaign news Friday, Harris won the endorsements of Barack and Michelle Obama, the former president and first lady, the last remaining leaders in the Democratic Party to embrace the likely nominee.
“We called to say Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and to do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,” the former president told Harris in a phone call that was recorded and posted to social media.
As the Harris campaign ramps up, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), a possible vice-presidential candidate, made plans for an event Saturday in his battleground state. Harris’s campaign said Shapiro will “kick off a weekend of action in Pennsylvania to mark 100 days until the election.” The event is set for Carlisle in central Pennsylvania.
