Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump could seek to win a victory tour on Monday after their recent joint strikes on Iran, praised by the two as an unmistakable success.
But while they are meeting for the third time this year, the triumphant external visit will be hampered by the Israel War at 21 months against Hamas in Gaza and the questions about Mr. Trump’s hardness will grow at the end of the conflict.
Trump clearly said that after the 12 -day war between Israel and Iran, he would like Gaza’s conflict to end soon. The meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu could give a new urgency to a proposal for an American cease-fire discussed by Israel and Hamas, but if it leads to an agreement that puts an end to war is not clear.
“The optics will be very positive,” said Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington. “But behind the Tour de Victoire, there will be very serious questions.”
Before leaving for Washington on July 6, Netanyahu praised cooperation with the United States for winning a “huge victory over our common enemy”. He struck a positive note on a ceasefire for Gaza, saying that he was working “to conclude the agreement under discussion, in the words we accepted”.
“I think the discussion with President Trump can certainly help advance this result, which we all hope,” said Netanyahu.
“It changes from day to day”
Israel and Hamas seem to be heading for a new ceasefire agreement that would cause around 60 days in the fighting, send aid floods to Gaza and release at least some of the 50 remaining hostages held in the territory.
But a perennial collage point is whether the ceasefire will end the war. Hamas said he was willing to release all hostages in exchange for an end of war and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Mr. Netanyahu says that war will end once Hamas will go, disarm and take place in exile – something he refuses to do.
Trump clearly said he wanted to be known as a peacemaker. He has repeatedly cheated on the recent peace agreements that his administration has facilitated between India and Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, and Israel and Iran, and for years, he has made a little secret that he covets a Nobel Peace Prize.
He put pressure on Israel and Hamas to conclude their own conflict, which killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, ravaged Gaza, deepened the international isolation of Israel and made any resolution to the wider conflict between Israel and the Palestinians more distant than ever.
But precise details of the agreement, and if this can lead to the end of the war, is still constantly evolving. In the days before Mr. Netanyahu’s visit, Trump seemed to minimize the chances of a breakthrough.
Asked on July 4 how confident he was that a cease-fire agreement would meet, Trump told journalists: “I am very optimistic-but you know, look, it changes from day to day.”
On Sunday evening, he seemed to reduce his expectations, telling journalists that he thought that an agreement concerning the remaining hostages would be concluded in the coming week.
Trump and Netanyahu are more synchronized than ever
These mood swings also embodied Mr. Trump’s relationship with Mr. Netanyahu.
After Mr. Trump’s decision to get involved in the War of Israel with Iran with strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, the two leaders are more synchronized than ever. But that hasn’t always been the case.
No later than Mr. Netanyahu’s last visit to Washington in April, the tone was clearly different.
Trump used the photo shoot with Mr. Netanyahu to announce that the United States was entering negotiations with Iran for his nuclear agreement – seeming to catch the Israeli chief off guard and at the time, slamming the brakes on an Israeli military level.
He also congratulated the Turkish chief Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a fierce critic of Israel, before Mr. Netanyahu, and the two made no apparent progress on a trade agreement at the height of Mr. Trump’s pricing expansion.
Trump, whose policies have largely aligned themselves with Israel’s priorities, undertook last week to be “very firm” with Mr. Netanyahu to put an end to the war without saying what it would imply. The pressure of Mr. Trump worked on Mr. Netanyahu in the past, a cease-fire agreement having been concluded, the president liable for the president.
Netanyahu must balance the requirements of his American ally with the far -right parties in his power coalition, which hold the key to his political survival and oppose the end of the war.
But given the strong American support in the War of Israel against Iran, underlined by joint air strikes on an Iranian underground nuclear site fortified, Mr. Netanyahu can have trouble saying no.
Trump said on Sunday evening that one of the questions he expected to chat with Mr. Netanyahu “is probably a permanent agreement with Iran”.
Trump can also expect something in exchange for his recent calls for Mr. Netanyahu’s corruption trial to be canceled, which is an important interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.
“Trump thinks that Mr. Netanyahu owes him,” said Eytan Gilboa, an American-Israeli business expert at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv. “And if Mr. Trump thinks he has to end the war in Gaza, then that’s what he will have to do.”
Trump regional vision
The two men will probably discuss the ceasefire with Iran and how to respond to any perceived violation.
But beyond Iran, Mr. Trump’s great vision for a new Middle East, where he hopes that other countries will join the Abraham agreements, a series of agreements normalizing relations between the Arab countries and Israel negotiated during Mr. Trump’s first mandate.
Mr. Netanyahu and Trump are likely to discuss the way of putting Syria in the lap. The country, a long-standing enemy of Israel, has a new leadership after the fall of President Bashar Assad, and the experts say that the conditions could be ripe for a kind of non-belligence agreement.
But Mr. Trump’s ultimate objective is to include regional Saudi Arabia.
The Saudis, whose weight could open the door to other Arab or Muslim countries, expressed their interest in normalizing links with Israel, but only if it is accompanied by serious steps to resolve the conflict of Israel with the Palestinians. To start, it would seem to require an action in Gaza.
“The most important thing [for Mr. Trump] is to end the war in Gaza, “said Gilboa.” It is the key to all regional peace in the Middle East. “”
This story was reported by the Associated Press.
