Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to the US following his visit to Hungary last week. He began his visit with a meeting with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and met President Donald Trump the following day.
In a joint press conference, President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu reaffirmed their commitment to pursuing their plan to displace the people of Gaza and take control of the Palestinian enclave, with Prime Minister Netanyahu stating that the plan was about “giving Palestinians a choice to leave.” The Israeli Premier also reiterated that it was not Israel that was confining Palestinians inside Gaza.
Egypt collaborates with Israel on its border with Gaza and the border between Egypt and Gaza is also closed with most of the humanitarian aid re-routed to Israel to fulfill Israel’s current ban on all humanitarian aid to Gaza. The Rafah crossing is open only to selected medical evacuees who need to leave Gaza for medical treatment.
On trade, the Israeli Premier said that Israel will close the trade deficit and all trade barriers with the US and that this is the right thing to do. When asked why the US doesn’t remove tariffs on Israel after Israel removed all tariffs on US products, President Trump said that the US provides a lot of aid to Israel and that discussions are ongoing.
At the end of the press conference, President Trump said that Turkey’s President, Tayyip Erdogan is his friend, and he will be mediating between him and the Israeli Premier over Syria as President Trump warned the Israeli Premier to be reasonable. Israel is currently conducting an illegal invasion of Syria and Turkey is making significant defense moves in Syria that could lead to a direct confrontation by the two rival nations.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Gaza.
Newsroom
Leave a Reply