Sometime within the next few weeks, we shall hopefully be much the wiser about what the 165-minute meeting between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Wednesday was really all about.
All of the previous meetings between the two were accompanied by long press conferences in which mostly Trump rambled at length about anything that happened to enter his mind. This time: almost absolute silence.
There are some heavy issues on the agenda, the outcome of which is totally in the hands of Trump, and probably highly significant with regard to whether Netanyahu will emerge victorious or defeated in the next round of general elections that is to take place in June or October of this year.
The Iran negotiations
Among the issues that were certainly on Netanyahu’s mind when he invited himself to Washington on short notice, and which purportedly were raised during the meeting, were whether Trump is adamant in his position that negotiations are preferable to a military operation, what he means by the term “settlement,” and what might convince him that the negotiations have failed.
It is no secret that Netanyahu believes (and has always believed) that negotiations with Iran are useless, not only from a purely Israeli point of view; they are dangerous to all of Islamic Iran’s opponents. Almost 11 years ago, on March 3, 2015, Netanyahu appeared before the two Houses of Congress, during president Barak Obama’s presidency, and spoke against the nuclear agreement that Obama was about to sign with Iran at the time.
Today, Netanyahu is not only against negotiations toward a nuclear agreement, but has also made it clear that the issues with Iran concern not only its nuclear capability, but also its various missile delivery capabilities, its support of various terrorist organizations, such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis (the so-called proxies), and its harsh, oppressive measures against its own population. He most certainly repeated all of this in his meeting with Trump last week, but apparently did not manage to get Trump to budge from his declared position.
At the moment, it seems as though Trump is only concerned with Iran’s nuclear capability.
On the issue of the oppression of the Iranian population, Trump may actually be accused of betraying the Iranian people, which only a month ago he urged to “keep protesting” and “take over institutions,” adding that “help is on the way.” Since then, the Iranian regime has killed a very large number of protesters, around 30,000 according to some reports.
To add insult to injury, US Vice President JD Vance told reporters last Wednesday, on the day Trump and Netanyahu met, that “if the Iranian people want to overthrow the regime, that’s up to the Iranian people. What we’re focused on right now is the fact that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon.” Was Vance unaware of what Trump had said the previous month? Or was he led to believe that what Trump had said was no longer relevant?
The American military presence and Gaza
So, what did Netanyahu get from Trump beyond the knowledge that the president was continuing to increase the American military presence in the Middle East, in case the negotiations with Iran would reach a dead end, and that the largest US aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald E. Ford, would soon be on its way to the region, and join the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is already reported to be in the vicinity of the Persian Gulf?
Though Netanyahu and most of the commentators in Israel assume that the American military buildup indicates that if the negotiations fail, the US will attack, the question is what sort of attack is being considered.
It has been suggested that in case of an attack, Trump wants to avoid boots on the ground – i.e., the commitment of large American ground forces, without which it is doubtful whether a regime change will be possible in Iran.
Was this discussed by Trump and Netanyahu? Was the Israeli role in a possible military confrontation mentioned? The fact that Netanyahu was not accompanied by anyone from the IDF suggests that even if something was said on the matter, it was not operational. But then again, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir visited Washington at the end of January.
Before boarding Wing of Zion on his way back to Israel, Netanyahu told reporters that the issue of the Gaza Strip was also raised in his meeting with Trump.
It is no secret that Netanyahu is not satisfied with the way the second stage of the peace process is evolving. Among the issues he is displeased with is the membership of the Gaza Executive Board established by Trump, which includes the Turkey and Qatar.
The board is to hold its second meeting next Thursday in Washington. Netanyahu has decided not to return to the US this week to attend the meeting, though he might still be pressured to do so by Trump.
Another issue Netanyahu strongly objects to is that the reconstruction of the Strip is to begin before Hamas is ousted from its administrative functions and demilitarized.
A pardon from Herzog
Incidentally, what Netanyahu got from Trump, on the morrow of their meeting, was the reprimand of President Isaac Herzog for avoiding to pardon Netanyahu and thus end Netanyahu’s trial on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. Trump stated that Herzog “should be ashamed of himself,” adding that “the people of Israel should shame him – he’s disgraceful.”
Trump ignores the fact that Netanyahu refuses to follow the legal procedure required in Israel for those seeking a pardon from the president. It is assumed that the issue was raised at Netanyahu’s behest.
At the moment, Herzog is waiting to receive an opinion on how he should act under the circumstances from the Justice Ministry. While he is inclined to find a respectable solution to the dilemma, Herzog is aware of the fact that from a purely legalistic point of view, Netanyahu does not deserve an unconditional pardon.
However, perhaps it is Trump himself who ought to be ashamed of himself for intervening in Israel’s legal system and insulting Israel’s president without justification.
Herzog responded to the insult by stating: “I have not yet decided on the matter of pardoning Netanyahu. The request will be examined without any influence from external or internal pressures....”
If Netanyahu were capable of apologizing, without Trump pushing a telephone into his hands, as he did at the end of December in the case of Israel’s failed attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, perhaps he owes Herzog an apology? A pipe dream.
The writer has written journalistic and academic articles, as well as several books, on international relations, Zionism, Israeli politics, and parliamentarism. From 1994 to 2010, she worked at the Knesset Library and the Knesset Research and Information Center.