Netanyahu Finally Gets His Meeting — as a Bystander to the War He Began

The prime minister's office announced on July 24 that Netanyahu departs Monday and meets Trump on Tuesday, also attending Senator Lindsey Graham's funeral service. He had asked last week and received no appointment; White House officials told Axios he tried to "will the meeting into existence." It would be his seventh Oval Office meeting since Trump's return, more than any other world leader, at a moment Axios describes him as deeply unpopular in Washington across Democrats, Trump's circle and the MAGA base. Ynet reports he wants to restore trust "shaken since the war with Iran," with Trump's people saying his assessments proved wrong. Trump has meanwhile told him to pull back in Syria and Lebanon, and says he will not do the Saudi civil-nuclear deal unless Riyadh joins the Abraham Accords.

Assessment: This is the inversion of the war's opening framing. Israel launched the campaign in February and is now a spectator to a US-Iran fight it fears being dragged into, lobbying for a seat at negotiations it is not party to. Haaretz's Amos Harel reports Israeli generals questioning both Trump's motives and Netanyahu's, with defence officials asking what Israel stands to gain from another round; the army has gone to higher alert in case it is pulled in. Domestically, an Oval Office photograph is close to the only asset a prime minister losing an October election can still generate. Two cautions: the claim that Trump blames Netanyahu for the war's failure is single-source Ynet describing an Israeli camp's anxiety, not a Trump statement — and Axios itself warns that announced visits have twice served as cover for imminent strikes.