The American website "Axios" revealed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's efforts to repair relations with former U.S. President Donald Trump may have made significant progress following the assassination attempt against the Republican leader. It noted that Netanyahu’s allies have met with Trump on at least four occasions over the past three years in attempts to mend ties, which deteriorated after Netanyahu congratulated Joe Biden on his victory in the 2020 elections.
One of these allies even went as far as to bring a copy of a book by Netanyahu to the former president’s resort "Mar-a-Lago" and read passages praising Trump, according to a member of the Israeli Prime Minister’s team, who noted that "every time we thought we had overcome this, we discovered that it hadn’t worked and that Trump was still angry."
According to "Axios", Netanyahu's aides are concerned that relations will not be as close as they were during Trump's first term if he wins in November. Nevertheless, recent events have made them cautiously optimistic after Trump shared a video of Netanyahu condemning the assassination attempt on his platform "Truth Social" last Saturday.
In a 2021 interview, Trump accused Netanyahu of disloyalty for accepting Biden's victory instead of supporting his claims of election fraud despite all that he had done for Israel and Netanyahu personally. Trump stated, "I haven't spoken to him since then. Damn him." Since the outbreak of the Gaza war following the October 7 attack on Israel, Trump has publicly expressed support for Israel but not for Netanyahu, according to the American website.
“Disappointment”
The site quoted a former advisor to President Trump as saying that the former president felt disappointed in Netanyahu following the U.S. elections and also had concerns regarding the failures that led to the events of October 7. However, the advisor stated that Trump would be able to work with Netanyahu if they were both in office by January.
A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign did not respond to "Axios" regarding the topic. Netanyahu was one of the first world leaders to issue a statement denouncing the assassination attempt on Trump, followed by at least three additional statements and social media posts expressing solidarity.
Musk's Role?
Two of Netanyahu's aides told "Axios" that they are optimistic about the possibility of repairing relations. One of them mentioned that there might be one person who could help, referring to Elon Musk, who has a good relationship with Netanyahu and endorsed Trump for president earlier this week.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is expected to visit Washington next week to meet President Biden and address Congress. According to a Netanyahu aide, there are currently no plans to meet Trump during the trip.
