The Israeli President had face to face meetings with President Biden, VP Harris and Donald Trump….
Netanyahu has had bumpy relations with Biden and Trump in the past….
Former President Trump met on Friday in Mar-a-Lago with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Why it matters: It is the first time Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has met Netanyahu since a rift formed between them after the U.S. presidential elections in 2020.
- The meeting is a clear signal the former president is ready to turn the page in his relationship with Netanyahu ahead of the presidential election.
Flashback: The last time Netanyahu met Trump was at the White House in September 2020 at the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords brokered by Trump.
- In an interview with Axios in April 2021, Trump said he was disappointed in Netanyahu, accused him of disloyalty, complained that the prime minister congratulated President Biden on his victory in the 2020 elections and said: “F**k him.”
But on Friday, Trump claimed at the beginning of the meeting that he never had a bad relationship with Netanyahu. “We have always had good relations,” he said.
- Trump attacked Vice President Kamala Harris and said her remarks on Thursday about the the war in Gaza were “disrespectful” towards Israel.
- Harris’ on-camera statement after meeting with Netanyahu on Thursday upset the prime minister and Israeli officials told reporters he is concerned it will harm the negotiations over a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal….
….
- More than 180,000 Palestinians have fled fierce fightingaround the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis in four days, the United Nations says, after an Israeli operation to extract captives’ bodies from the area.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited former United States President Donald Trump for talks in Floridaas Trump denied there were tensions between the pair.
- Clashes have taken place in Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank between the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian fighters during an attempt to arrest Mohammed Jaber, a commander of an armed group who is wanted by the Israeli military.
- At least 39,175 people have been killed and 90,403 injured in Israel’s war on Gaza. The death toll in Israel from the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 is estimated at 1,139 with dozens of people still held captive in Gaza….
….
Israeli forces retrieved the bodies of five hostages from a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip, the military said on Thursday, amid growing international and domestic pressure for a cease-fire deal that would lead to the release of the remaining captives.
The bodies were found on Wednesday in a zone around the city of Khan Younis that Israel previously designated as a humanitarian area where Gazan civilians could go to avoid the fighting and to receive aid, the military said. The tunnel shaft was nearly 220 yards long and more than 20 yards underground, with several rooms, the military said.
Israel has said that Hamas — which led the attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that prompted the war in Gaza — has exploited the designated humanitarian zone to launch rockets at Israel, as well as to use it for other military purposes. Aid groups have lamented that Israel has struck the area despite telling Gazans they would be safer there. Hamas had no immediate response.
The five hostages — Maya Goren, 56; Ravid Katz, 51; Oren Goldin, 33; Tomer Ahimas, 20; and Kiril Brodski, 19 — had already been presumed dead by Israeli officials….
Jul 26, 2024 – ISW Press
A new Iranian-backed Iraqi militia claimed two rocket attacks targeting US forces in Iraq and Syria on July 25.