Once in sync, Trump and Netanyahu now show signs of division

When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met President Trump at the White House in February, the two men were not more simultaneous. The President appointed Houthi fighters in Yemen as a terrorist organization. Both talked about preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb. Even Mr. Trump considered expelling the Palestinians from Gaza.

“You say things that others refuse to say,” Mr. Netanyahu fell to the Oval Office, while operating the cameras. “After that, after the jaws drop, people scratch their heads. They say,” as you know, it is right. “

After two months, on another visit to the White House, Mr. Netanyahu sat silently next to the president for more than half an hour, as Mr. Trump explained on issues that have nothing to do with Israel.

In April, this meeting emphasized a growing division between the two men, who are increasingly varying around some of the most important security issues facing Israel.

While Mr. Trump heads this week to the Middle East on his first foreign trip, the president has at the present time that Mr. Netanyahu’s desire to take joint military measures to take Tehran’s nuclear capabilities. Instead, Mr. Trump began talking to Iran, leaving Mr. Netanyahu to warn that “the bad deal is worse than the lack of a deal.”

Last week, Mr. Trump announced an agreement with the Iranian -backed Houthi militia in Yemen to stop the American air strikes against the militants, who agreed to stop the attacks against the American ships in the Red Sea. News from Mr. Trump, which is Israeli Officials said it was a surprise To Mr. Netanyahu, just days after the Houthi missile struck the main airport of Israel in Tel Aviv, an Israeli response.

In a video posted on X, Mr. Netanyahu responded to Mr. Trump’s announcement by saying: “Israel will defend itself. If we join us, and our American friends, if they do not do that, we will defend ourselves.”

“The United States is not required to obtain permission from Israel.”

There are even some evidence of division on Gaza. Mr. Trump’s envoys are still trying to obtain a deal to stop the war, although he greatly supported the prime minister’s behavior of the conflict and has not provided almost any general criticism of the increasing Israeli bombing, the siege of food, fuel and medicine since the shooting collapsed two months ago.

On Monday, the Prime Minister announced plans to intensify the war even as the president’s envoy continues to search through a new diplomatic by ending the conflict. But Mr. Trump did not shake his finger on Mr. Netanyahu the way President Joseph R did. Biden Junior throughout the first year of the war in Gaza, which began after Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Now, this moment is tested by the relationship of the two men, both of which are divided politically, and they can fight strongly and have little arrogance. At stake is the short and long -term security in an area that has long been destroyed due to the war. Analysts in the Middle East and the United States say that changing the arc of history there is partially dependent on how Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu canceled their differences during a period of major geopolitical transformations.

“Trump is what you see is what you get,” said Elie Grunner, who has served for more than three years as a general manager in the Prime Minister’s office.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu were publicly martyred with a warm and exciting relationship as evidence of their political skill, and they disturbed each other over and over again. People close to the two leaders say that in some respects, the gentle spirits who respect each other of the political and personal attacks they carry during their career.

Mr. Trump accused the liberals in his government, judges and intelligence officials of conspiring against him. Mr. Netanyahu blamed the courts in his country for preventing the necessary policies, and says that his political competitors have organized his trials on fraud charges, violating confidence and accepting bribes.

“The DNA of both of them are very similar,” said Mike Evans, an evangelical Christian who founded the Zayoun Friends Museum in Israel who has long been supportive of both the President and the Prime Minister. “They both have experienced similar experiences – Bibi with the deep state in Israel and Donald Trump with the deep state in America.”

John Bolton, who held the position of National Security Adviser in the White House from 2018 to 2019, said Mr. Trump has always looked at the relationship with Mr. Netanyahu as decisive to his political support in the United States, especially among evangelical voters.

He said of the two leaders: “Both of them saw their political interest to be friendly.” “This was definitely Trump’s account.”

But behind closed doors, there were differences and some clashes, with effects on the situation they face now.

Mr. Trump has long harbored the wrath of Mr. Netanyahu, congratulating Mr. Biden on his victory in the elections for the year 2020. The President claimed – falsely – that the Prime Minister was the first global leader to do so. At the end of 2021, Mr. Trump Using a obscene word While remembering Snub in an interview with the author of a book.

For his part, Mr. Netanyahu expressed his frustration with some policies of Mr. Trump, especially because of the president’s desire to reach an agreement with Iran. Usually, a right -wing newspaper is in line with the Prime Minister He wrote this month Mr. Netanyahu believed that Mr. Trump “says all the right things” but he does not offer.

When it comes to Iran, Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Trump may work on different time schedules. The president seems to be ready to allow diplomats to work on a deal that may restrict Tehran’s ability to enrich uranium and slow down its progress towards a bomb. Mr. Netanyahu is keen to move against Iran militarily, before it is too late to stop his progress.

“Netanyahu believes that the schedule is very short to make a decision,” said Mr. Bolton, a defender of military action. In an interview with Time Magazine in April, Mr. Trump said he argued against Mr. Netanyahu’s proposal to launch a joint attack to restore the Iranian nuclear program.

“I didn’t stop them. But I didn’t make it comfortable for them because I think we can make a deal without the attack,” said Mr. Trump in the interview.

The White House said that Mr. Trump has no plans to visit Israel on his journey to the region this week, although Mr. Hackabi said that the president will visit the country by the end of the year. This is a change from the first period of the president, when it included his first foreign trip, as well as stopping in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and parts of Europe.

It is still unclear how Mr. Trump will face a widespread war in Gaza while he is in the Middle East.

Mr. Trump took office pledging to end the war between Israel and Hamas, end the Palestinian suffering, and to return the hostages that the armed group seized on October 7, 2023. (Always in his mind, According to those close to himThe possibility of granting the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. A spokesman for Mr. Trump said in March that the award was illegal until Mr. Trump was honored, “The President of the Final Peace” of his accomplishments.

More than 50,000 Palestinians died, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilian deaths and fighting. About 130 hostages were released, and the Israeli army recovered the bodies of at least 40 others. Up to 24 hostages are still alive, according to the Israeli government.

Some families of the Israeli and American hostages who are still detained in Gaza are working quietly to urge Mr. Trump to use his journey to the Middle East as an opportunity to pressure Mr. Netanyahu, according to persons familiar with the diplomatic pressure effort.

In recent weeks, Mr. Trump has appeared Less involved in In an attempt to resolve the conflict after showing off in February about his major vision to create “Gaza Riviera” as soon as the Palestinians were transferred to other countries.

When Mr. Netanyahu visited the White House in April, some in Israel looked at the scene that the scene was embarrassed by the Prime Minister.

Mr. Evans, who has known Mr. Netanyahu since he was a young man, said that the Prime Minister would not wander, even if Mr. Trump pushed him to end the war before the Israeli army destroyed Hamas and returned all the hostages.

“Do Netanyahu believe that Hamas will give him all the hostages if they withdraw from Gaza?” Mr. Evans said. “I don’t think he thinks this for a moment.”