Trump-Netanyahu meeting is a consequential moment for both leaders – and the Middle East
CNN
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrival as the first foreign leader to pay President Donald Trump a visit since he returned to the White House comes at a consequential moment.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrival as the first foreign leader to pay President Donald Trump a visit since he returned to the White House comes at a consequential moment. There is little question the Israeli leader will receive a warm welcome; his visit will last several hours and include a joint press conference. But the comity between the men could belie a relationship that’s more complicated than it sometimes appears – with nothing less than the future of the Middle East potentially riding on Trump’s words. As negotiations begin for the second phase of a ceasefire deal in Gaza, the Israeli leader must ascertain exactly where his American counterpart stands before deciding how to proceed. Trump has claimed credit for the hostages-for-ceasefire agreement struck in the days before he entered office – and even officials in the outgoing Biden administration acknowledged Trump’s imminent arrival helped apply pressure on Israel and Hamas. But for all of his prodding to get the deal inked, Trump will still need to oversee the remaining two phases of the three-phase plan. He didn’t sound particularly confident a day before meeting Netanyahu. “I have no assurances that it’ll hold,” he said in the Oval Office, where he’d summoned reporters to watch him sign some papers. “And I’ve seen people brutalized. I’ve never - nobody’s ever seen anything like it.” His Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who was standing nearby, has been intensely involved in implementing the deal, including paying a visit to Gaza last week on a fact-finding mission. He offered a slightly more glass-half-full assessment than his boss.
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