– OFFICE OF THE ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER
MADRID, December 29 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, expressed Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his hope that the second phase of the peace plan for the Gaza Strip begins “as quickly as possible”, although he urged the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to disarm.
“There must be disarmament: we must disarm Hamas,” the president explained in press statements alongside Netanyahu, adding that he hopes that the phase of reconstruction of the Palestinian enclave will begin “very soon”.
Trump also said he would support another attack on Iran if it tried to regain its nuclear capabilities and advised Tehran, faced with that possibility, to choose to strike a deal with Washington. “They could have reached an agreement last time, before we launched a big attack against them,” he recalled.
Likewise, Trump emphasized that his relationship with Netanyahu was “extraordinary.” “Sometimes it can be very difficult, but you need a strong man. If there was a weak man, there would be no Israel now,” he said shortly before holding a bilateral meeting at his residence in Mar-A-Lago, Florida.
For his part, Netanyahu praised relations between Israel and the United States. “You can judge not only by the frequency of our meetings, but also by their content and intensity,” the prime minister said, adding that the world was “very lucky” to have Trump in the White House.
FORGIVENESS TO NETANYAHU
Trump – who sent a letter to Israeli President Isaac Herzog in November urging him to pardon Netanyahu – called his ally a “wartime prime minister” and a “hero.” “How is it possible that they won’t pardon him?” he asked.
In this sense, he assured that he had recently spoken with Herzog, who confirmed that grace “is on the way.” However, shortly afterward, the president’s office issued a statement denying that this conversation took place.
“There have been no conversations between President Herzog and President Trump since the filing of the pardon request. A few weeks ago, President Herzog had a conversation with a representative of President Trump… who explained the status of the process the request is currently in and that any decision on the matter will be made in accordance with established procedures,” the statement read.
The Israeli Prime Minister also met during the day with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss, among other subjects, “regional security, economic cooperation and the fight against anti-Semitism.”
“Both leaders emphasized the importance of continuing cooperation to promote peace and stability in the Middle East, consistent with the vision of President Trump’s 20-point peace plan,” the State Department said in a statement.
Netanyahu already held a video conference the day before with billionaire Elon Musk in a conversation that was also attended by Transport Minister Miri Regev and Director of the National AI Directorate Erez Eskel.
“Musk accepted the invitation of the Prime Minister and Minister Regev to participate in the Intelligent Transportation Conference to be held in March. In addition, they discussed continued cooperation with Tesla and the advancement of legislation regarding autonomous vehicles,” Netanyahu’s office detailed in a statement.
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