‘A great relationship’: Trump welcomes Netanyahu to Mar-a-Lago

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to their first face-to-face meeting in nearly four years on Friday.

Asked by journalists if his U.S. trip was making progress toward a Gaza cease-fire at home, Netanyahu said, “I hope so,” and added that Israel was eager for an agreement.

Netanyahu handed Trump a framed photo that the Israeli leader said showed a child who has been held hostage by Hamas-led terrorists since the first hours of the war. “We’ll get it taken care of,” Trump assured him.

Trump’s campaign said he pledged in the meeting to “make every effort to bring peace to the Middle East” and combat antisemitism on college campuses if American voters elect him to the presidency in November.

Trump was waiting for Netanyahu on the stone steps outside his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where he warmly clasped the hands of the Israeli leader.

“We’ve always had a great relationship,” Trump said. Asked as the two sat down in a muraled room for talks if Netanyahu’s trip to Mar-a-Lago was repairing their bond, Trump responded, “It was never bad.”

As president, Donald Trump went well beyond his predecessors in fulfilling Netanyahu’s top wishes from the United States. Yet by the time Trump left the White House, relations had soured, with Trump publicly criticizing Netanyahu as disloyal despite the the Israeli leader’s efforts to mend ties after Netanyahu became one of the first to congratulate Joe Biden on his 2020 presidential victory.

Netanyahu’s Florida trip followed a fiery address to a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday that defended his government’s conduct of the war in Gaza and condemned American protesters.

On Thursday, Netanyahu met in Washington with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Both pressed the Israeli leader to work quickly to wrap up a deal to bring a cease-fire and release hostages.

Netanyahu and Trump last met at a September 2020 White House signing ceremony for the signature diplomatic achievement of both men’s political careers. It was an accord brokered by the Trump administration in which the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed to establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel.

For Israel, it amounted to the two countries formally recognizing it for the first time. It was a major step in what Israel hopes will be an easing of tensions and a broadening of economic ties with its Arab neighbors.

Trump has repeatedly urged that Israel with U.S. support “finish the job” in Gaza and destroy Hamas, and did so again Thursday.

“I want him to finish up and get it done quickly,” Trump said Thursday. “Israel is not very good at public relations, I’ll tell you that,” he added.