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Photo illustration: A\u00efda Amer\/Axios; Photos: Alessandra Benedetti\/Corbis and Win McNamee\/Getty Images<\/h5>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nBarak Ravid
\nAXIOS<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhite House officials were surprised in recent days to read in the Israeli press that\u00a0President Trump<\/a>\u00a0would host Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.<\/p>\n\n- In fact, no meeting has been scheduled.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Why it matters:<\/strong>\u00a0Netanyahu has\u00a0visited the Oval Office<\/a>\u00a0six times since Trump returned to office a year and a half ago \u2014 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n- The fact that\u00a0Trump<\/a>\u00a0isn’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.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Catch up quick:<\/strong>\u00a0Trump\u00a0told Axios<\/a>\u00a0early this month that Netanyahu called to congratulate him for the 250th Independence Day and asked to come see him at the White House.<\/p>\n\n- Trump said at the time that Netanyahu could visit right after the president returned from the\u00a0NATO summit<\/a>\u00a0in Ankara, Turkey, which took place July 7-8.<\/li>\n
- But as days passed and Trump returned from the summit, no meeting was scheduled.<\/li>\n
- On Sunday, after news of former Sen.\u00a0Lindsey Graham’s death<\/a>, Netanyahu’s office told reporters that he wanted to attend the funeral. His 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.<\/li>\n
- Netanyahu’s office even notified the Israeli Air Force to prepare his government plane and sent an advance team of protocol and security officials to Washington.<\/li>\n
- On Thursday morning, however, Netanyahu’s office announced the planned trip had been cancelled because Graham’s funeral service had been postponed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Behind the scenes:<\/strong>\u00a0Two White House officials told Axios that while Netanyahu wanted to meet Trump, a meeting was never confirmed or added to the president’s schedule.<\/p>\n\n- “Our impression was that Bibi was trying to will a meeting into existence,” one of the officials said.<\/li>\n
- It’s unclear whether Netanyahu received an outright “no” from the White House. But it is clear he did not receive a positive response.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Yes, but:<\/strong>\u00a0White House officials did not rule out the possibility of Trump meeting Netanyahu when he comes to Graham’s wake at the National Cathedral this month.<\/p>\n\n- Some Israeli officials say Netanyahu’s decision to cancel his trip may also have stemmed 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.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The intrigue:\u00a0<\/strong>The back-and-forth over the potential meeting came after Netanyahu went on Fox News right before Trump left for Ankara and\u00a0criticized<\/a>\u00a0the president’s intention to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.<\/p>\n\n- One of the White House officials told Axios that Trump was “pissed off” by the interview.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n- The second official said Trump felt “Bibi had no right” to weigh in on that issue.<\/li>\n
- During Trump’s trip to Turkey, Israel provided intelligence to the U.S. that showed a senior Iranian official had told one of his colleagues that Iran should try to kill the U.S. president while he was in Ankara, Israeli and U.S. officials said.<\/li>\n
- 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.<\/li>\n
- “It was more aspirational than operational,” one of them said.<\/li>\n
- Two sources with knowledge said that Turkish security services had investigated the issue and determined there was no specific plot to assassinate Trump in Ankara.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The big picture:<\/strong>\u00a0Netanyahu is deeply unpopular in Washington these days, both among Democrats and within Trump’s close circle and the MAGA base.<\/p>\n\n- Numerous U.S. officials,\u00a0including Vice President JD Vance<\/a>, have accused Netanyahu of making rosy predictions about the Iran war that didn’t pan out.<\/li>\n
- On Wednesday, 103 House Democrats\u00a0voted to cut $3 billion<\/a>\u00a0in U.S. aid to Israel \u2014 an astonishing rebuke.<\/li>\n
- One Jewish leader close to the Democratic Party said the vote was less about aid than about providing a way for many Democrats to express their opposition to Netanyahu and his government.<\/li>\n
- 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.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Barak Ravid
\nAXIOS<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
White House officials were surprised in recent days to read in the Israeli press that\u00a0President Trump<\/a>\u00a0would host Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.<\/p>\n Why it matters:<\/strong>\u00a0Netanyahu has\u00a0visited the Oval Office<\/a>\u00a0six times since Trump returned to office a year and a half ago \u2014 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.<\/p>\n Catch up quick:<\/strong>\u00a0Trump\u00a0told Axios<\/a>\u00a0early this month that Netanyahu called to congratulate him for the 250th Independence Day and asked to come see him at the White House.<\/p>\n Behind the scenes:<\/strong>\u00a0Two White House officials told Axios that while Netanyahu wanted to meet Trump, a meeting was never confirmed or added to the president’s schedule.<\/p>\n Yes, but:<\/strong>\u00a0White House officials did not rule out the possibility of Trump meeting Netanyahu when he comes to Graham’s wake at the National Cathedral this month.<\/p>\n The intrigue:\u00a0<\/strong>The back-and-forth over the potential meeting came after Netanyahu went on Fox News right before Trump left for Ankara and\u00a0criticized<\/a>\u00a0the president’s intention to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.<\/p>\n The big picture:<\/strong>\u00a0Netanyahu is deeply unpopular in Washington these days, both among Democrats and within Trump’s close circle and the MAGA base.<\/p>\n\n
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