The Historic Trump-Netanyahu News Conference

The press conference with President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu was amazingly historic. I watched in the White House press briefing room as it unfolded. I knew it would be important. It quickly became even more significant than I expected.I have known Mr. Netanyahu since 1984 when he came to the Capitol for lunch with Representative Jack Kemp and me.He is now the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history.He clearly feels comfortable with — and indeed grateful to — Mr. Trump, who he called “the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House.”Historically, there has been a pattern to White House press conferences on Middle Eastern relations. They typically involve pledges, hopes, and reality avoidance.Mr. Trump shattered all the patterns this week. He proposed a solution for Gaza that broke with every supposedly expert analysis of the region.The fact is Gaza could be a prosperous place. It has huge amounts of natural gas offshore. It has beaches which could become, as Mr. Trump described it, “the Riviera of the Middle East.”The difference in economic activity between Israel ($44,000 per person) and Gaza even before the recent war ($1,087 per person) was an indicator of the cost of terrorism and bad government.Interestingly, Mr. Trump envisions a New Gaza. He clearly sees it as a country with people from all over the world living and working there. He sees a country safe enough that European and other tourists will flock to the beaches. It is clear from his language that Mr. Trump deeply wants to be a peacemaker. He referenced the Palestinian Arab and Iranian people in a positive way during the press conference. He clearly wants to find a way to bring peace to the Middle East.As Mr. Netanyahu pointed out, Mr. Trump’s policies with the Abraham Accords led to peace treaties between Israel and four Arab countries. Mr. Netanyahu suggested that if Mr. Trump had had six more months, there would have been a peace treaty between Israel and Saudi Arabia. He went on to express confidence that, with Mr. Trump back in the White House, that peace would occur.Mr. Trump is willing to take on a bigger, more assertive, and more responsible role in the Middle East than any president before him.It is clear from the various United Nations organizations from which Mr. Trump is withdrawing that he understands that many international organizations have been allies with Hamas and Hezbollah and enemies of Israel and the United States. This reflects an understanding his predecessors in both parties either lacked or avoided. The formula Mr. Trump outlined for dealing with Iran is a typical example of the President’s tough love approach. On the one hand, he stated categorically (and to Mr. Netanyahu’s great satisfaction) that Iran could never have a nuclear weapon. On the other hand, he expressed great admiration for the Iranian people and hoped that everything could be resolved peacefully so they could live with hope and prosperity.We are watching a more seasoned, compassionate, and understanding Mr. Trump, who has survived nine years of political warfare, two impeachment attempts, and two assassination attempts.This is a man who thinks globally on a grand scale. He is determined to make America great again — but he is equally determined to create a more peaceful and prosperous world in which America leads. Its competitors should now understand they must operate within limits defined by the economic, cultural, and military power of the United States.We have not seen this breadth of vision and scale of determination since President Franklin D Roosevelt led the allies to victory in World War II.Analysts have not yet caught up with the growth of the President or the depth of his thinking. They have not yet recognized the range of his experience and personal knowledge, the courage of his proposals, and the scale of talent he has assembled to implement his vision.This week’s press conference with Mr. Netanyahu is worth studying to see what is developing and how the new world is emerging.

The Historic Trump-Netanyahu News Conference

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