U.S. President Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., on Monday.Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump said he supports new attacks on Iran and reiterated his strong backing for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as the two men met in Florida at a moment of mounting concern over Israeli adherence to the terms of a fragile ceasefire in Gaza.
Mr. Trump, speaking outside of his Mar-a-Lago resort club where talks were held Monday, said he is prepared to “knock the hell” out of Iran if he is convinced that the country is attempting to rebuild its nuclear program and missile arsenal.
He also offered new praise for Mr. Netanyahu, calling the Israeli leader a “hero” and renewing his demands for Isaac Herzog, Israel’s president, to pardon a prime minister accused of bribery and fraud. Mr. Trump said Mr. Netanyahu deserves deference as a “wartime prime minister at the highest level.”
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday the United States could support another major strike on Iran were it to resume rebuilding its ballistic missile or nuclear weapons programs and warned Hamas of severe consequences if it does not disarm.
Reuters
“We have peace in the Middle East and we’re going to try and keep it that way,” Mr. Trump said, expressing gratitude to Israel for its plan, formally announced Monday, to make him the first foreign recipient of its top Israel Prize.
But the U.S. President gave no voice to the frustration inside his administration over Israel’s conduct in Gaza, where the country’s forces have been repeatedly accused of shooting children, including a three-year-old killed earlier this month. (Israel said it would “conduct an additional review.”) An air strike in mid-December also killed a Hamas leader, Raed Saad, and several other militants.
“I’m not concerned about anything that Israel is doing,” Mr. Trump said Monday. Israel, he said, “has lived up to the plan 100 per cent,” while Hamas militants in Gaza must disarm in “a very short period of time.”
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A second phase of the ceasefire, he added, should begin “very quickly.”
Neither Mr. Trump nor Mr. Netanyahu described any concrete new agreement to compel change as the tenuous first phase of a ceasefire nears three months in duration.
Under the terms of an agreement struck this fall, the first phase was intended to bring a cessation of hostilities in exchange for the return of all hostages.
A second phase would involve disarming Hamas and deploying an International Stabilization Force to Gaza. Mr. Trump said he is open to the idea of Turkish forces being sent to Gaza, but also said he is willing to defer to Mr. Netanyahu, referring to him by his nickname.
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“A lot will be having to do with Bibi,” Mr. Trump said.
How to maintain future security in Gaza is among the difficult unresolved questions for the region.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticized Israel for destabilizing the region and said he is ready to send his forces in to Gaza, where his government has maintained ties with Hamas.
Mr. Netanyahu has opposed the idea. Israeli officials have cited what they called Turkey’s hostility toward their country. Mr. Erdogan has compared the Israeli prime minister to Hitler.
Mr. Trump said his friendship with both men would prevent open confrontation between the two countries, but offered no details about how they might work together.
He said he was with both Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Erdogan “all the way. Nothing is going to happen.”
Mr. Trump has now met with Mr. Netanyahu five times since his return to office in January. This time, the Israeli leader came hoping to delay any further measures toward diminishing Israel’s role in Gaza, months ahead of an expected October election that opinion polling suggests his governing coalition will struggle to win.
His office invited the parents of Ran Gvili to accompany the Prime Minister to Florida. Mr. Gvili is the final Israeli hostage whose remains have yet to return from Gaza, and his mother, Talik, publicly said she sought to assist Mr. Netanyahu and “ensure that there will be no advancement to the next phase until Hamas fulfills its obligations in this stage of the agreement – and above all, its duty to return Ran home.”
“We’re doing everything we can to get his body back,” Mr. Trump said.
He took credit for the return of the other hostages, including the homecoming of the final living hostages in October.
“They were all released because of us. None were released in the Biden administration,” Mr. Trump said. The first Israeli hostages were released more than a year before Mr. Trump returned to the White House.
But Mr. Netanyahu has done little to question Mr. Trump, seeking instead to win White House support for his position by praising the U.S. President.
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”People said there was a different conception at one time, which means that America can advance its interest in the Middle East if it opens a lot of daylight between it and Israel,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “President Trump has done the exact opposite. He’s achieved remarkable things in the Middle East because we’ve worked together.”
Mr. Trump, in turn, made clear that he is inclined to believe warnings from Israel that Iran has worked to boost its production of ballistic missiles in a program that threatens not just Israel, but U.S. assets in the region. Earlier this month, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, chief of staff of Israel Defense Forces, hinted at renewed attacks on Iran.
Israel, he said, will strike enemies of Israel “wherever required, on near and distant fronts alike.”
On Monday, Mr. Trump called on Iran to make a new deal with the U.S., saying he did not yet have full confirmation of rearmament efforts by Tehran. Still, he said he would support renewed attacks if necessary. In June, Mr. Trump authorized a long-range strike to bomb Iranian nuclear installations.
”I hope they’re not trying to build up again, because if they are, we’re going to have no choice, but very quickly to eradicate that buildup,” Mr. Trump said.