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Former U.S. President Donald Trump praised his favorable relations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who arrived in Florida to meet him on Friday.
Recalling his administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the Golan Heights as part of Israel, Trump, who is seeking reelection, told reporters that terminating the Iran nuclear deal was “maybe the best thing” he did for Israel.
“But unfortunately, the Biden administration didn’t do anything about it,” he said at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. “We would have had a deal with Iran, and everybody would have been happy, but they didn’t do anything with it.”
The meeting comes one day after the Israeli prime minister met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in the U.S. capital of Washington, where he delivered a controversial speech to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Harris said that she expressed concern about the situation in the Gaza Strip to Netanyahu during their meeting at the White House, adding that it is time to get the Gaza cease-fire deal done.
Trump also took aim at the vice president, who is the likely Democratic presidential nominee for the November elections, calling her remarks “disrespectful” to Israel.
“I think her remarks were disrespectful. They weren’t very nice… I actually don’t know how a person who’s Jewish can vote for her, but that’s up to them,” he said.
The former president also warned against “major wars” in the Middle East and potentially a “third world war” if he loses the U.S. presidential election.
“If we win, it’ll be very simple. So I’m going to work out it very quickly. If we don’t even end up with major wars in the Middle East and maybe a third world war,” he said. “You are closer to a third world war right now than at any time since the Second World War”.
In response to a question on a potential Gaza cease-fire deal after his trip to the U.S., Netanyahu responded: “I hope so. I think time will tell. We’re certainly eager to have one, and we’re working on it.”
The prime minister also said that he is dispatching a team to Rome at the beginning of the week for Gaza cease-fire and hostage swap deal talks.
Trump said hostages “have to be given back immediately because there can be no way that they’re in good shape”.
On May 31, Biden said that Israel presented a three-phase deal that would end hostilities in Gaza and secure the release of hostages held in the coastal enclave. The plan includes a cease-fire, a hostage-prisoner exchange, and the reconstruction of Gaza.
Netanyahu’s office shared photos and videos on X of Trump welcoming Netanyahu and his wife Sara at his Florida resort.
In the images, Netanyahu stands beside Trump, holding a cap with the phrase “Total Victory” in English, reflecting Netanyahu’s stated goal of achieving total victory over Hamas, despite official Israeli circles doubting the feasibility of this in the short term.
Netanyahu is betting on Trump’s return to the White House to gain greater support for Israel, including promises of increased military, political, and diplomatic aid.
In addition to the Israeli delegation, teams from Egypt, Qatar, and the U.S. will participate in the Rome meeting, as reported by Cairo News Channel, citing an unnamed high-level Egyptian source.
Before meeting Trump, Netanyahu met with President Joe Biden in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
On Monday, Netanyahu arrived in the U.S. and delivered an outrageous speech before Congress on Wednesday. The session was boycotted by nearly half of the Democratic members of the House and Senate, protesting Netanyahu’s ongoing war and crimes in the Gaza Strip.
Israel, flouting a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
Nearly 39,200 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 90,400 injured, according to local health authorities.
Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
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