Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met this evening (Monday) with United States President Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
At the beginning of the meeting, President Trump answered questions from reporters. The president stated that he was interested in moving to Phase 2 in Gaza but emphasized that first "we must disarm Hamas.".
Regarding the possibility of integrating Turkish soldiers into the international force in Gaza, he said: "I am in favor, but things depend on Prime Minister Netanyahu and we will talk about it in a meeting. I have excellent relations with Erdogan. If it would be good to have Turkish soldiers in Gaza, we will do it. Turkey is great, I have no worries.".
The American president also addressed the Israeli demand for the return of Ran Gueili before any progress on the Gaza issue. "Rani Gueili is the last one left. Ran's parents are here, they are a beautiful family waiting for his return. We will do everything we can to return his body.".
On Iran, he said: "There's the story with Iran and we'll have to bring them down, we'll show them what it is, hopefully that doesn't happen. I heard that they want to reach a deal and it's much smarter. They could have reached a deal last time, before the big attack on them, and they decided not to go for a deal, now they regret it. I think they should go for a deal but it's not happening.".
In response to a question about whether he would support an Israeli attack on Iran if it chooses not to reach a deal and continues to develop ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, the president said: "If they continue - yes. Regarding the missiles - yes, regarding nuclear weapons - quickly. One answer - is absolutely yes. The second answer is that we will do it immediately.".
The reception. Photo: Omer Meron/GPO
He complimented the prime minister and emphasized: "He was a prime minister during a war and did an outstanding job. He managed to get Israel out of a very difficult period of trauma. Israel, as well as other nations, might not exist now. If you want to know, I think if it weren't for this prime minister, or if he had been a bad prime minister, Israel wouldn't exist. They encountered a force that few countries could have faced. We worked together, and to put it mildly, we were quite successful.".
In response to the question of whether his relationship with Netanyahu is good, Trump replied: There can't be a better relationship. We just won a major war. If it weren't for Iran, we wouldn't have achieved peace in the Middle East. The countries wouldn't have been able to reach an agreement. If we hadn't blown up their nuclear weapons facilities, without our excellent missiles and submarine-launched missiles.
Amos Ben Gershom/ LPO
On relations with Netanyahu - he said: "Bibi is a strong man, he can sometimes be a bit of a difficult person, but you need a strong man, because if he were a weak person, Israel would not exist now. You know, Israel, I think that with almost any other leader who was at its head, it would not exist today. Israel is stronger today than ever.".
Regarding an agreement with Syria, he said: "I hope Israel will get along with Syria, because the new president of Syria is working very hard to do a good job. I know he's not an easy man, he's not some innocent choirboy, right? But I hope they'll get along. I lifted the sanctions on Syria, because otherwise it wouldn't have a chance. We want to see Syria survive, we'll talk about Syria too.".
When asked about a pardon for Prime Minister Netanyahu, he revealed: "I think Herzog will grant Netanyahu a pardon. How could he not? He is a war hero. I spoke with the president and he told me it is on the way.".
President Herzog's office said: "There has been no conversation between President Herzog and President Trump since the pardon was submitted.
""A few weeks ago, there was a conversation between President Herzog and a representative of Trump who asked about the American president's letter, in which he received an explanation of the process in which the request is being processed, and that a decision on the matter would be made according to procedures, and this was explained to Trump's representative, exactly as President Herzog conveyed to the Israeli public.".
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