Donald Trump hosted back-to-back White House meetings with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, as Ukraine seeks more firepower for its air defenses and the Israeli prime minister tries to repair his strained relationship with the US president.
It was Netanyahu’s first visit to the Oval Office since he and Trump launched their joint military campaign against Iran on 28 February.
Netanyahu’s relationship with Trump has been complicated in recent weeks by his push to keep fighting Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, even as Trump pursued a diplomatic opening with Tehran.
Tensions between the pair have risen as the war has drifted inconclusively, with Trump calling the Israeli premier “crazy” and declaring: “Without me, there would be no Israel.”
The two men are each facing pressure at home, with Netanyahu in a tough re-election fight, and Trump under pressure to end an unpopular war that has pushed up prices before November’s midterms.
Trump signaled some of that friction beforehand. Asked on Fox & Friends on Tuesday morning about reports that Netanyahu planned to brief him on intelligence about Iranian activity at Pickaxe Mountain, a suspected nuclear site Trump has threatened to bomb, he said he knew “exactly what’s going on at Pickaxe”, adding that Netanyahu raises it because “he wants me to stay involved”.
Far outside the White House, behind the fences, protesters chanted: “Netanyahu, you’re a tyrant” and “Bibi, you’re not welcome here” on Tuesday.
The closed-door meeting, which lasted about an hour, was expected to cover Iran, a framework deal the US and Israel signed with Lebanon, and a possible expansion of the Abraham accords, according to a White House official.
Netanyahu also faces the task of reassuring Trump he will not obstruct US-led diplomacy in Gaza and Lebanon, as support for Israel among the US public has slipped, with a new AP-Norc poll showing a sharp decline amid accusations, denied by Israel, that its conduct in Gaza amounts to genocide.
Zelenskyy’s meeting was described by both sides as positive. In a statement, Zelenskyy said he had discussed licensing arrangements to let Ukraine manufacture its own interceptors for Patriot missile systems.
“We also spoke about diplomacy – it’s important that the diplomatic process be reinvigorated,” said Zelenskyy. “Our teams will arrange the details of their further communication. I am grateful to the United States for its firm support.”
He opened by offering condolences over the death of the US senator Lindsey Graham, calling the late foreign policy hawk “a true friend of Ukraine”.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said afterwards that both meetings had been “positive and productive!”