As president, Donald Trump went well beyond his predecessors in fulfilling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top wishes from the United States. Yet by the time Trump left the White House, relations between the two had broken down after Netanyahu rapidly congratulated Joe Biden on his 2020 presidential victory.
On July 26, 2024, the two men me face-to-face for the first time in nearly four years in a test of whether the relationship can be mended. Both have an interest in getting past their differences.
For Trump, now the Republican presidential nominee, the meeting could cast him as an ally and statesman, as well as sharpen efforts by Republicans to portray themselves as the party most loyal to Israel.
That’s as divisions among Americans over U.S. support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza open cracks in what has been decades of strong bipartisan backing for Israel, the biggest recipient of U.S. aid.
For Netanyahu, who was in the United States to address Congress and meet with Biden, repairing relations with Trump is imperative given the prospect that he may once again become president of the United States, Israel’s main arms supplier and protector.
For both men, Friday’s meeting at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, highlighted for their home audiences their depiction of themselves as strong leaders who have gotten big things done on the world stage, and can again. But Trump's public statements urging a rapid end to the war in Gaza could add to tensions.
One political gamble for Netanyahu is whether he could get more of the terms he wants in any deal on a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release, and in his much hoped-for closing of a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, if he waits out the Biden administration in hopes that Trump wins.
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