Inside Bibi's mystery Trump meeting
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Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photos: Alessandra Benedetti/Corbis and Win McNamee/Getty Images.
White House officials were surprised in recent days to read in the Israeli press that President Trump would host Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
- In fact, no meeting has been scheduled.
Why it matters: Netanyahu has visited the Oval Office six times since Trump returned to office a year-and-a-half ago — more than any other world leader. Each of those meetings was scheduled within a matter of hours or days. This time, Netanyahu has been trying to get an appointment for more than two weeks.
- The fact that Trump isn't rushing to sit down with Netanyahu in front of the cameras signals not only the divergence of interests between the two, but also how disillusioned the White House is with the Israeli leader five months after they launched a war together.
Catch up quick: Trump told Axios early this month that Netanyahu called to congratulate him for the 250th Independence Day and asked to come see him at the White House.
- Trump said at the time that Netanyahu could visit right after the president returned from the NATO summit in Ankara, which took place July 7-8.
- But as days passed and Trump returned from the summit, no meeting was scheduled.
- On Sunday, after news of former Sen. Lindsey Graham's death, Netanyahu's office told reporters that he wanted to attend the funeral. Netanyahu's aides told reporters in the following few days that he planned to travel to the U.S. this weekend and meet with Trump on Monday.
- His office even notified the Israeli Air Force to prepare his government plane and sent an advance team of protocol and security officials to Washington.
- On Thursday morning, however, Netanyahu's office announced the planned trip had been cancelled because Graham's funeral service was postponed.
Behind the scenes: Two White House officials told Axios that while Netanyahu wanted to meet Trump, a meeting was never confirmed or added to the president's schedule.
- "Our impression was that Bibi was trying to will a meeting into existence," one of the officials said.
- It's unclear whether Netanyahu received an outright "no" from the White House. But it is clear he did not receive a positive response.
Yes, but: White House officials did not rule out the possibility of Trump meeting Netanyahu when he comes to Graham's wake at the National Cathedral later this month.
- Some Israeli officials say Netanyahu's decision to cancel his trip could also stem from his assessment that the U.S. is preparing to escalate its attacks on Iran and he would want to be in the country in case Iran retaliates against Israel.
The intrigue: The back and forth over the potential meeting came after Netanyahu went on Fox News right before Trump left for Ankara and criticized the president's intention to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.
- One of the White House officials told Axios Trump was "pissed off" by the interview.
- The second official said Trump felt "Bibi had no right" to weigh in on that issue.
- During Trump's trip to Turkey, Israel provided intelligence to the U.S. that showed a senior Iranian official told one of his colleagues that Iran should try and kill the U.S. president while he was in Ankara, Israeli and U.S. officials said.
- The new intelligence caused the Secret Service to take precautions such as switching Trump's flight to the old Air Force One. But several U.S. officials said it was single sourced and uncorroborated.
- "It was more aspirational than operational," one of them said.
- Two sources with knowledge said that Turkish security services investigated the issue and determined there was no specific plot to assassinate Trump in Ankara.
The big picture: Netanyahu is deeply unpopular in Washington these days, both among Democrats and within Trump's close circle and the MAGA base.
- Numerous U.S. officials, including Vice President JD Vance, have accused Netanyahu of making rosy predictions about the Iran war that didn't pan out.
- On Wednesday, 103 House Democrats voted to cut $3 billion in U.S. aid to Israel — an astonishing rebuke.
- One Jewish leader close to the Democratic Party said the vote was less about aid than a way for many Democrats to express their opposition to Netanyahu and his government.
- It wasn't just Democrats. Vance went on Joe Rogan's podcast Wednesday and accused members of Netanyahu's government of trying to undermine the Trump administration's Iran policy in order to prolong the war.
The bottom line: The episode was about more than just a White House sitdown. It's another sign of Netanyahu's increasingly precarious standing in Washington.
