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Why Trump and Netanyahu love - and hate - each other · The Front

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  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, July nine, twenty twenty five. The church where
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Mushroom Lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson preachers thanked the Gippsland community
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  Speaker 1: for its support on Tuesday. That's after Aaron Patterson was
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  Speaker 1: convicted of murdering Wilkinson's wife and two other elderly relatives.
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  Speaker 1: You can read all the latest on the mushroom trial
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  Speaker 1: guilty verdict right now at the Australian dot com dou
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: The Albanesi government is working up a new strategy to
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: deal with antisemitism. The government's envoy, Gillian Siegel, will present
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: a set of proposals to the government after a Melbourne
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  Speaker 1: synagogue and restaurant were attacked over the weekend. Donald Trump
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  Speaker 1: deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
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  Speaker 1: Netta Yahoo. That's after the two leaders met in Washington,
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  Speaker 1: DC to discuss peace in the Middle East. Donald Trump
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  Speaker 1: reignited the tariff war by slapping higher rates on Japan
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  Speaker 1: and South Korea and warning other states they may face
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  Speaker 1: hikes to today what the Bibbi Donald Alliance means for
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  Speaker 1: the region and the rest of the world. Joe Kelly
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  Speaker 1: is the Australian's correspondent in Washington, DC. Joe, we knew
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  Speaker 1: Benjamin Etna who was coming to the White House. We
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  Speaker 1: knew there'd be a meeting, and we wondered if there'd
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  Speaker 1: be some sort of oval office glad handing or confrontation.
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  Speaker 1: Actually what emerged was a dinner that turned into a
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  Speaker 1: press conference.
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  Speaker 2: Sadana to have me, me and Sarah with us, friends
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  Speaker 2: of mine for a long time.
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  Speaker 1: And it was quite a bizarre scene, wasn't it.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Claire, I think it's typical Trump. But this was
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  Speaker 3: different from the visits of other leaders. So there were
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  Speaker 3: questions that Carolyn Levitt took at the White House press
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  Speaker 3: briefing earlier about why this was a closed meeting. Usually
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  Speaker 3: we see Donald Trump parading these foreign leaders before the
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  Speaker 3: media cameras and the world's media in these oval office
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  Speaker 3: performances that didn't happen today. There was a dinner, as
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  Speaker 3: you say, where even Donald Trump at times is relaying
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  Speaker 3: questions that are directed to him by journalists to the
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  Speaker 3: Israeli Prime Minister and asking him what he thinks, almost
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  Speaker 3: as if he's testing or trying to gauge what Benjamin Nettner,
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  Speaker 3: who thinks about certain things.
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  Speaker 4: It's another example.
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  Speaker 3: Of what life is like in the court of Donald Trump.
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  Speaker 4: It's really nice of you at the wet House. It's
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  Speaker 4: nothing like the wet House.
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  Speaker 2: And it's great to have you both than all of you.
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  Speaker 1: One of the new things we learned today is that
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  Speaker 1: Benjamin Etna who thinks Donald Trump should win the Nobel
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  Speaker 1: Peace Prize.
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  Speaker 2: Your leadership of the free world, your leadership of adjust cause,
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  Speaker 2: and the pursuit of peace and security in which you
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  Speaker 2: are leading in many lands, but now especially in the
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  Speaker 2: Middle East. So I want to present to you, mister President,
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  Speaker 2: the letter I sent to the Nobel Prize Committee. It's
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  Speaker 2: nominating you for the Peace Prize, which is well deserved
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  Speaker 2: and you should get it.
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  Speaker 1: You got the sense Donald Trump quite likes this idea
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  Speaker 1: of himself as the global peacemaker.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you very much. This I didn't know. Well, Thank
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  Speaker 4: you very much. Oh, there's no doubt about that.
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  Speaker 3: He's had varying degrees of success on that front. And
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  Speaker 3: the most glaring problem, obviously is that the conflict in
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  Speaker 3: Eastern Europe is still ongoing.
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  Speaker 4: I'm stopping Morris.
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  Speaker 2: I'm stopping Morris, and I hate to see people killed.
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  Speaker 4: As an example, in Ukraine and Rush and Ava can
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  Speaker 4: stop a war now because they have an ability to.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm disappointed frankly that President Buten hasn't stopped.
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  Speaker 4: I'm not happy about it either.
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  Speaker 3: But he can see in roads that he's made in
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  Speaker 3: the Middle East. So this is his big opportunity to
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  Speaker 3: fulfill this legacy, in this benchmark that he set for
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  Speaker 3: himself as a peacemaker. And no doubt he feels there's
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  Speaker 3: a sense of momentum now, a strategic opening following the
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  Speaker 3: successful US strikes on the Iranian nuclear enrichment sites on
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  Speaker 3: which he wants to build a broader regional peace, and
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  Speaker 3: to do that he needs to get Benjamin.
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  Speaker 4: Netanyahu on board. So this is what this whole trip
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  Speaker 4: is all about.
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  Speaker 1: There was a point when Trump was asked if he
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  Speaker 1: thought there was a two state solution for Israel and
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  Speaker 1: the Palestinians. He really deflected that question off to Benjamin Nina, who.
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  Speaker 4: I don't know. I asked, maybe that question.
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  Speaker 2: You have the greatest man in the world to answer
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  Speaker 2: that age old question to state, go ahead, you give
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  Speaker 2: him your understands I think Powerstinians should have all the
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  Speaker 2: powers to govern themselves, but none of the powers to
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  Speaker 2: threaten us. That means that certain powers like overall security
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  Speaker 2: will always remain in our hands. Now that is a fact,
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  Speaker 2: and I think we can work out a piece between
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  Speaker 2: US and the entire Middle East. With President Trump's leadership
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  Speaker 2: and by working together, I think we can establish a
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  Speaker 2: very very broad piece that will include all our neighbors.
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  Speaker 3: What did do.
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  Speaker 1: You interpret was going on there, Joe? Do you think
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  Speaker 1: the President just still thinks it should be the riviera
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  Speaker 1: of the Middle East and doesn't have a firm.
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  Speaker 2: View about that, But the riviera of the Middle East,
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  Speaker 2: this could be something that could be so magnificent.
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  Speaker 4: We'll make sure that it's world class.
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  Speaker 1: Is this showmanship? In some way?
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  Speaker 3: I think it was sort of the typical Trump theatrics,
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  Speaker 3: But I also think it's a reflection of Trump's transactional
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  Speaker 3: nature and pragmatism. He wants to do a deal, and
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  Speaker 3: he'll take the best deal that he thinks he can get,
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  Speaker 3: and he recognizes that Israel is now in a.
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  Speaker 4: Very strong position.
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  Speaker 3: I think Donald Trump was actually interested in Benjamin Nettner,
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  Speaker 3: whose views Benjamin Netna who will be persuading and putting
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  Speaker 3: this point of view very clearly and very firmly to
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  Speaker 3: the Trump administration.
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  Speaker 4: He wants a mus to.
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  Speaker 3: Surrender, for it to disarm, and for the remaining leaders
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  Speaker 3: to be exiled, and for Israel to take over security
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  Speaker 3: control of the Gaza Strip.
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  Speaker 2: After October seventh, people said, the Palestinians autistate guys. I
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  Speaker 2: look what they did with it. They didn't build it up.
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  Speaker 2: They built down into bunkers, into terror tunnels, after which
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  Speaker 2: they massacred our people, raped our women, beheaded our men,
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  Speaker 2: and debated our our cities and our towns and our
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  Speaker 2: keep see them, and did horrendous, horrendous massacres the kind
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  Speaker 2: of which we didn't see since World War II in
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  Speaker 2: the Nazis, the Holocaust. So people aren't likely to say,
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  Speaker 2: let's just give them another state and it'll be a
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  Speaker 2: platform to destroy Israel. We'll work out a piece with
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  Speaker 2: our Palestinian neighbors, those who don't want to destroy us,
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  Speaker 2: and we'll work out a piece in which our security,
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  Speaker 2: the sovereign power of security, always remains in our hands.
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  Speaker 2: Now people were saying, it's not a complete state, it's
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  Speaker 2: not a state. It's not that we don't care. We
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  Speaker 2: vowed never again, never again, is now It's not gonna
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  Speaker 2: happen again.
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  Speaker 1: These are both very flamboyant politicians. They look very different.
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  Speaker 1: Donald Trump looked particularly orange, I thought at this meeting,
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  Speaker 1: and Benjamin Netanya, who looked particularly pale and perhaps not
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  Speaker 1: very well. But they've got something in common, which is
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  Speaker 1: they both believe that their political opponents have trumped up
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  Speaker 1: charges against them. In Nenya, whose case he's been facing
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  Speaker 1: for more than five years now, accusations of fraud and
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  Speaker 1: corruption for accepting gifts from and giving favors to businessmen
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  Speaker 1: including James Packer. Packer has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, do you think that's part of the
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  Speaker 1: kind of fellow feeling between these guys and where a
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  Speaker 1: deal might come from Joe, that they both feel they're
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  Speaker 1: kind of victims of a liberal deep state.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think personal chemistry and rapport is important in
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  Speaker 3: striking deals. Clearly, personal relationships are important to Donald Trump.
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  Speaker 4: I think he likes winners. That's very important to him.
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  Speaker 3: He likes people who project strength, and I think he
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  Speaker 3: likes people who persevere and go on to succeed despite
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  Speaker 3: the odds being set against them in a way, he
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  Speaker 3: sees that as his own story. But I also think
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  Speaker 3: this is a tricky relationship. So, for example, Donald Trump
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  Speaker 3: got pretty angry after he'd announced the ceasefire between Israel
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  Speaker 3: and Iran and basically ordered Benjamin nettna who to turn
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  Speaker 3: around his jets so the ceasefire agreement would hold. And
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  Speaker 3: you know, he could claim this was the twelve day
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  Speaker 3: War and he could live up to this legacy of
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  Speaker 3: him as the peacemaker and so on. And he was
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  Speaker 3: very angry that day. He probably recall that he swore
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  Speaker 3: in front of the assembled media as he was leaving
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  Speaker 3: the White House.
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  Speaker 1: We basically have two countries that have been fighting so
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  Speaker 1: long and so hard that they don't know what the
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  Speaker 1: fuck they're doing.
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  Speaker 2: Do you understand that?
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  Speaker 3: But I think they don't entirely. I don't think they
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  Speaker 3: entirely trust one another. I mean Benjamin Netanya, who he
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  Speaker 3: took this audacious action in engaging around directly calculating that
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  Speaker 3: the US would come in at the end. And then
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  Speaker 3: Donald Trump was concerned that Israel wouldn't uphold the ceasefire.
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  Speaker 3: So there's still brinksmanship and gamesmanship going on between both
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  Speaker 3: of these leaders. So it's a complex and fascinating relationship
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  Speaker 3: that is clearly fundamental to this reshaping of the Middle
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  Speaker 3: East strategic outlook which we are.
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  Speaker 1: Seeing coming up. And then Trump restarted the tariff. What
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  Speaker 1: that means for Australia. Donald Trump wants to end real
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  Speaker 1: shooting wars, he says, but he's happy to have a
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  Speaker 1: trade war. And he's fired up the trade war again,
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  Speaker 1: sending letters to a bunch of countries and hitting Japan
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  Speaker 1: and South Korea with tariff rates of twenty five percent.
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  Speaker 1: Where does Australia fit into that now, Joe, and how
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  Speaker 1: concerned should we be about this new phase of that
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  Speaker 1: particular war.
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  Speaker 3: Australia has the ten percent general tariff, so it's not
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  Speaker 3: hit by the reciprocal tariffs, which was subject to the
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  Speaker 3: ninety day pause. Now, what Donald Trump has done is
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  Speaker 3: he's effectively extended that ninety day pause until August one.
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  Speaker 3: But again, in Trump like fashion, he's projecting strength, writing,
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  Speaker 3: you know, to all these countries that did have the
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  Speaker 3: reciprocal tariff, effectively threatening them with a much higher tariff rate.
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  Speaker 3: The expectation in the White House is that Australia will
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  Speaker 3: remain unaffected. The ten percent tariff will simply remain in place. However,
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  Speaker 3: I was at the White House earlier today and it's
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  Speaker 3: their expectation. While Australia the ten percent rate will remain.
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  Speaker 3: Anything can happen. The President could decide to put a
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  Speaker 3: higher tariff right on Australia if he thought there was
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  Speaker 3: a good reason for it.
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  Speaker 1: Joe Kelly is The Australian's correspondent in Washington DC. You
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: can check out all Joe's reporting and all the best
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: in world news anytime by joining our subscribers at the
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Australian dot com dot au