Trump Promised Netanyahu to Help Israel Build What Iran Missiles Destroy

Former US President Donald Trump pledged to Netanyahu to rebuild what Iran missiles destroy in Israel's infrastructure in the event of a war (AFP)
Former US President Donald Trump pledged to Netanyahu to rebuild what Iran missiles destroy in Israel's infrastructure in the event of a war (AFP)
TT

Trump Promised Netanyahu to Help Israel Build What Iran Missiles Destroy

Former US President Donald Trump pledged to Netanyahu to rebuild what Iran missiles destroy in Israel's infrastructure in the event of a war (AFP)
Former US President Donald Trump pledged to Netanyahu to rebuild what Iran missiles destroy in Israel's infrastructure in the event of a war (AFP)

Journalist Barak Ravid revealed some secrets of the Israeli-US relations during the term of former US President Donald Trump and his feelings of resentment towards former Israeli prime minister and current opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Ravid said that although the US administration pledged to help Israel rebuild everything that gets destroyed by Iran's missiles in the event of a war, the Trump administration felt it was "backstabbed" by Tel Aviv.

Ravid said that during his interview with the former president for his new book "Trump's Peace: The Abraham Accords and the Reshaping of the Middle East," Trump said he felt used on the Soleimani strike and "Israel did not do the right thing."

The assassination of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in January 2020 seemed like the height of US-Israel cooperation. However, it became a significant point of tension between the two allies.

"I can't talk about this story. But I was very disappointed in Israel having to do with that event. ... People will be hearing about that at the right time," Trump said.

Trump expected Israel to play a more active role in the attack, and he believed Netanyahu was "willing to fight Iran to the last American soldier," according to a former senior Trump administration official.

The former senior US official said Trump's anger wasn't warranted, but that he put the episode into the same box he had put his feelings for NATO - of allies wanting the US to do their fighting for them.

Netanyahu tried to pull Trump aside to make amends when he visited the White House in September 2020 to sign the Abraham Accords. However, Trump wasn't convinced and continued to believe Netanyahu had used him, a former White House official told Ravid.

A senior Israeli defense official told Ravid that Israel proposed a more active role for Israeli forces. However, the US insisted on being the ones to execute the strike.

Israel provided the US with crucial intelligence support for the attack. The former VP Mike Pence called the Israeli National Security Adviser, Meir Ben Shabat, to thank him.

Meanwhile, journalist Alex Fishman affirmed that the reconstruction was part of a confidential plan that only a few Israeli political and security officials knew about.

In an article in Ynet, Fishman said that Israel and the US do not have a military alliance yet. However, they establish deep cooperative relations, especially between the security commands.

The US realized that it could use Israeli intelligence and military capabilities to fight ISIS. Thus intelligence and military cooperation were established on Syrian territory, Fishman added.

In recent years, a special operations room for the Air Force was set up at the headquarters of the Israeli army in Tel Aviv to cooperate with the US in Syria.

A senior Israeli official described it as an unprecedented close and daily cooperation level.

Fishman noted that the claim that Israel does not need to inform the US about its intentions against Iran is "obsolete."

He indicated that Netanyahu and his defense minister at the time, Ehud Barak, claimed they authorized an independent military attack against Iran in 2011, however, it was a mere threat.

According to Fishman's report, experts from outside the Israeli security service estimate that Tel Aviv is three to five years far from a situation in which it will attack Iran independently and achieve an effective result.



Foreign Ministers Meet in Italy for G7 Talks on Ukraine, Middle East

Security stand guard ahead of the G7 Foreign Ministers meeting in Anagni, Lazio Region, Italy, 24 November 2024. (EPA)
Security stand guard ahead of the G7 Foreign Ministers meeting in Anagni, Lazio Region, Italy, 24 November 2024. (EPA)
TT

Foreign Ministers Meet in Italy for G7 Talks on Ukraine, Middle East

Security stand guard ahead of the G7 Foreign Ministers meeting in Anagni, Lazio Region, Italy, 24 November 2024. (EPA)
Security stand guard ahead of the G7 Foreign Ministers meeting in Anagni, Lazio Region, Italy, 24 November 2024. (EPA)

Foreign ministers from the world’s leading industrialized nations are meeting Monday, with the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East entering decisive phases and a certain pressure to advance diplomatic efforts ahead of the new US administration taking over.

Hopes for brokering a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon are foremost on the agenda of the Group of Seven meeting outside Rome that is gathering ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

On the first day of the two-day gathering Monday, the G7 will be joined by ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, as well as the Secretary General of the Arab League.

“With partners will be discussed ways to support efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, initiatives to support the population and the promotion of a credible political horizon for stability in the region,” the Italian foreign ministry said.

The so-called “Quint” grouping of the US, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and the UAE has been working to finalize a “day after” plan for Gaza, and there is some urgency to make progress before the Trump administration takes over in January. President-elect Donald Trump is expected to pursue a policy that strongly favors Israel over the aspirations of the Palestinians.

Host Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani added another item to the G7 agenda last week after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief.

Italy is a founding member of the court and hosted the 1998 Rome conference that gave birth to it. But Italy’s right-wing government has been a strong supporter of Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, while also providing humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza.

The Italian government has taken a cautious line, reaffirming its support and respect for the court but expressing concern that the warrants were politically motivated.

“There can be no equivalence between the responsibilities of the state of Israel and the terrorist organization of Hamas,” Premier Giorgia Meloni said, echoing the statement from US President Joe Biden.

Nathalie Tocci, director of the Rome-based Institute for International Affairs think tank, said Italy would be seeking to forge a united front on the ICC warrants, at least among the six G7 countries that are signatories of the court: everyone but the US.

But in an essay this weekend in La Stampa newspaper, Tocci warned it was a risky move, since the US tends to dictate the G7 line and has blasted the ICC warrants against Netanyahu as “outrageous.”

“If Italy and the other (five G7) signatories of the ICC are unable to maintain the line on international law, they will not only erode it anyway but will be acting against our interests,” Tocci wrote, recalling Italy’s recourse to international law in demanding protection for Italian UN peacekeepers who have come under fire in southern Lebanon.

The other major talking point of the G7 meeting is Ukraine, and tensions have only heightened since Russia attacked Ukraine last week with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha is expected at the G7 in Fiuggi on Tuesday, and NATO and Ukraine are to hold emergency talks the same day in Brussels.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the strike was retaliation for Kyiv’s use of US and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory.

The G7 has been at the forefront of providing military and economic support for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 and G7 members are particularly concerned about how a Trump administration will change the US approach.

Trump has criticized the billions of dollars that the Biden administration has poured into Ukraine and has said he could end the war in 24 hours, comments that appear to suggest he would press Ukraine to surrender territory that Russia now occupies.

Italy is a strong supporter of Ukraine and has backed the US decision to allow Ukraine to strike Russia with US-made, longer-range missiles. But Italy has invoked the country’s constitutional repudiation of war in declining to provide Ukraine with offensive weaponry to strike inside Russia and limiting its aid to anti-air defense systems to protect Ukrainian civilians.

The G7 foreign ministers’ meeting, the second of the Italian presidency after ministers gathered in Capri in April, is being held in the medieval town of Fiuggi southeast of Rome, best known for its thermal spas.

On Monday, which coincides with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, ministers will attend the inauguration of a red bench meant to symbolize Italy’s focus on fighting gender-based violence.

Over the weekend, tens of thousands of people marched in Rome to protest gender-based violence, which in Italy so far this year has claimed the lives of 99 women, according to a report last week by the Eures think tank.