Days after his defiant speech at the United Nations rejecting demands to end the war in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to confer with his most important supporter.
But Monday’s meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington comes at a tenuous moment. Israel is increasingly isolated, losing support from many countries that were long its steadfast allies. At home, Netanyahu’s governing coalition appears more fragile than ever. And the White House is showing signs of impatience.
The question now is whether Trump, who has offered steadfast backing to Netanyahu throughout the war, will change his tone and turn up the pressure on Israel to wind down the conflict.
Hours before Netanyahu was set to meet Trump for talks, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was urging both sides to finalize an agreement to bring an end to the nearly two-year old war in Gaza.
“Ultimately the president knows when you get to a good deal, both sides are going to leave a little bit unhappy,” Leavitt told reporters at the White House on Monday morning. “But we need this conflict to end.”
In a post Sunday on social media, the Republican president said: “We have a real chance for GREATNESS IN THE MIDDLE EAST. ALL ARE ON BOARD FOR SOMETHING SPECIAL, FIRST TIME EVER. WE WILL GET IT DONE!!!”
Trump and Netanyahu are scheduled to meet in the Oval Office, and a joint press conference is expected later.
The uncertainty surrounding the meeting casts it as “one of the most critical” in the yearslong relationship between the two leaders, said professor Eytan Gilboa, an expert on US-Israeli relations at Bar-Ilan and Reichman universities.
“Netanyahu might have to choose between Trump and his coalition members,” a number of whom want the war to continue, Gilboa said. A move by Netanyahu to end the war would leave him on shaky political ground at home a year before elections.
Oded Ailam, a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, agreed Trump is likely to demand a permanent ceasefire, leaving Netanyahu with few options. Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to continue the offensive until Hamas is destroyed.
If Trump puts the pressure on, the Israeli leader would probably seek to include “red lines” in any deal, Ailam said. Netanyahu, Ailam says, might demand that Hamas be dismantled. Netanyahu might also set a condition that if the militant group resumes fighting or returns to power, the Israeli military would have the right to operate freely in Gaza, he said.
Trump joined forces with Netanyahu during Israel’s brief war with Iran in June, ordering US stealth bombers to strike three nuclear sites, and he’s supported the Israeli leader during his corruption trial, describing the case as a “witch hunt.”
But the relationship has become more tense lately. Trump was frustrated by Israel’s failed strike this month on Hamas officials in Qatar, a US ally in the region that had been hosting negotiations to end the war in Gaza.
Recent comments have hinted at growing impatience from Washington. Last week, Trump vowed to prevent Israel from annexing the West Bank—an idea promoted by some of Netanyahu’s hard-line governing partners. The international community opposes annexation, saying it would destroy hopes for a two-state solution.
Michael Doran, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, dismissed the idea Trump’s comments about the West Bank were a sign of friction. He said the remarks allowed Netanyahu to resist pressure from right-wing members of his government.
“That was a clever move by Trump,” Doran said. “It simultaneously showed responsiveness to Arab and Muslim allies while actually helping out Netanyahu.”
On Friday, Trump raised expectations for the meeting with Netanyahu, telling reporters the US was “very close to a deal on Gaza.”
AP
Trump has made similar pronouncements in the past with nothing to show for it.
