Trump updates: US president meets with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu

If you’d like to read more about Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu at the White House and his renewed threats against Iran, you can read our analysis here.

And if you’d like to get up to speed on the countries where Israel has carried out military strikes over the last year, you can take a look at our graphics story here.

We will be closing the live page soon. These were today’s main developments:

• Trump met Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago, where the US president praised the Israeli prime minister as a “hero” and threatened to attack Iran if the country moves to bolster its military capabilities.
• Trump also claimed that Israeli President Isaac Herzog would soon pardon Netanyahu of corruption charges. Herzog’s office released a statement saying he had not discussed the pardon request with Trump.
• Trump also waved away Israeli violations of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, instead warning there would be “hell to pay” if Hamas does not disarm.
• Trump added that the Lebanese group Hezbollah has been “behaving badly” when asked whether Israel could launch another war in Lebanon.
• The US president said he hopes Netanyahu will “get along” with the new government of Syria, despite Israel’s continued occupation of Syrian territory and repeated incursions.

Despite rumours of rumbling tensions over the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire, Trump steered clear of criticising his guest, Netanyahu, during the Israeli prime minister’s fifth visit to the US.

Instead, he lavished Netanyahu with compliments and spent time drawing parallels between their work.

“ He’s been a wartime prime minister,” Trump said at one point. “Look, I guess I could say I was a wartime president in more places than just Israel, if you think about it.”

Trump has long sought the Nobel Peace Prize, claiming to have resolved eight world conflicts, though leaders in some of those skirmishes have contradicted Trump’s assertions.

Netanyahu has supported Trump’s efforts, including his work during the Gaza ceasefire negotiations. On Monday, he even announced that Trump would receive Israel’s highest honour, the Israel Prize.

In keeping with the cosy mood, Trump dodged several questions, including about the possible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.

We don’t want the controversy right now,” Trump said in response to a question about which countries might accept them.

In one sense, this is a victory for Netanyahu.

He’s got the ear of Trump. Before this meeting, everyone behind the scenes was saying the White House had had enough of Netanyahu and his foot-dragging on the Trump peace plan.

And now, after a quick meeting with Bibi, Trump is [basically] saying, “No, no, we’re not worried about Israel. They’re doing everything… look, in fact, they just gave me a lovely award.”

So that’s kind of mission accomplished here for Netanyahu.

The US president appeared to be responding to a May poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in which 49 percent of those surveyed said they would be willing to apply to Israel to leave the enclave.

However, the poll did not specify if leaving would be temporary or permanent. Previous polls have shown that only a fraction of the Gaza population supports permanent relocation, with more support for leaving while Gaza is being reconstructed.

Many Palestinians have voiced concerns over not being able to return if they leave. Trump had suggested a mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza in February, but has since moved away from the position.

“I’ve always said it. I said, if they were given the opportunity to live in a better climate, they would move. They are there because they sort of have to be,” Trump said today.

“I think it would be a great opportunity, but let’s see if that opportunity presents itself. But we’re helping the people of Gaza a lot.

While matters of foreign policy have dominated Trump’s meeting with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, he closed his second media appearance of the day with a threat against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Appointed by Trump in 2018, Powell has since become a frequent target for criticism, with Trump objecting to Powell’s failure to reduce interest rates as quickly as he would like.

As the US’s central bank, however, the Federal Reserve acts independently from the White House.

Powell has defended his decision to pursue more gradual changes to US interest rates as necessary to combat inflation and ensure market stability.

This has led Trump to nickname the former banker “Too Slow Powell”. In his appearance with Netanyahu, Trump accused Powell of making decisions to benefit his rivals during past election seasons.

He also criticised Powell for the renovations to the Federal Reserve building, which have gone over budget.

“Gorgeous monuments are built for a much smaller price, so we’re thinking about bringing a gross incompetence – what’s called a gross incompetence lawsuit,” Trump said.

“ It’s gross incompetence against Powell, and it was his baby. The guy’s just incompetent. There is nothing you can do about it. He’s just a very incompetent man, but we’re going to probably bring a lawsuit against him.”

Ali Shamkhani, a top adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said that any aggression towards Iran will be met with a “harsh response”.

His post on the social media platform X comes as Trump meets with Netanyahu. The Israeli leader has been pushing for more strikes on Iran following a ceasefire agreement that ended a 12-day war in June.

While such strikes are largely seen as at odds with Trump’s priorities, the US president said today that the US would “knock the hell” out of Iran if it sought to increase its nuclear or military capabilities.

Today’s meeting with Netanyahu has unfolded in Trump’s adopted home state of Florida, which has taken stiff actions to crack down on pro-Palestinian advocacy.

Though once a swing state, Florida has tilted increasingly rightwards since Governor Ron DeSantis was first elected in 2018.

DeSantis, for his part, has framed the southern state as a “blueprint” for the rest of the country, though his leadership has, at times, divided Florida Republicans.

Echoing similar efforts under the Trump administration and in the right-wing stronghold of Texas, DeSantis has led a campaign to dampen Palestinian solidarity activism in his home state.

In 2023, shortly after the Hamas attack on southern Israel, DeSantis ordered state colleges and universities to dismantle their chapters of the human rights group Students for Justice in Palestine.

He accused the group of supporting terrorism, an allegation the students have refuted as a misrepresentation.

Just this month, DeSantis also took action against the state branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), another human rights advocacy organisation, labelling it a “foreign terrorist organisation”.

It is unclear what, if any, practical effect that designation could have, as such labels are assigned on the federal level. But critics say it is part of an ongoing campaign in Florida against the free-speech rights of those who have denounced Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

To read about DeSantis’s actions against CAIR, check out our coverage here.

As Trump and Netanyahu discuss the future of Gaza, Israeli forces remain in control of nearly 60 percent of the enclave and have continued systematic efforts to demolish Palestinian homes in a bid to prevent residents from returning to them. Israeli forces frequently shoot at Palestinians near the areas that Israel controls.

“It simply means that they will not be able to return back home. When Israel controls nearly 60 percent of Gaza, this painful reality shapes everything and means that large areas will be either military zones, buffer areas, or too dangerous to approach due to the high rates of unexploded ordinance and the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure,” Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum said from Deir el-Balah in Gaza.

“Thousands of Palestinians are trapped in small pockets at the western end of the Strip, while the eastern parts of Gaza are still under Israeli military control, with repeated statements by Israeli officials that Israel will not withdraw from those areas.”

A judge in Utah has ordered the release of ⁠most of the transcript and audio from a closed-door hearing on the safety and security measures surrounding the trial of alleged Charlie Kirk killer Tyler Robinson.

Robinson is charged with seven criminal counts, including aggravated murder, obstruction of justice for disposing of evidence, and witness tampering related to his alleged killing of the conservative US activist during an event Utah Valley University in September.

The hearing in question took place on October 24. It dealt with the safety restraints and clothing Robinson would be required to wear in court.

The judge ruled Robinson may appear in court in regular clothes but must be physically restrained. He prohibited the media from filming or photographing Robinson’s handcuffs and shackles after ⁠his lawyers said such images could prejudice potential jurors.

Kirk’s killing led to efforts by the Trump administration to crack down on left-leaning organisations and individuals, accusing them of promoting radical ideologies.

With Monday’s renewed calls for Netanyahu to receive a pardon, Trump has again wielded his power and influence on behalf of a right-wing political ally in a foreign country.

Since 2020, Netanyahu has faced three corruption-related trials: for breach of trust, accepting bribes, and fraud.

The cases revolve around allegations that Netanyahu haggled with business and media leaders to exchange government perks for favourable news coverage, money and other benefits.

Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing. But in the Israeli leader’s legal woes, Trump has found parallels to his own circumstances.

In 2023, Trump faced four criminal indictments, with one ending in a conviction and the other three dropped.

Trump has likened Netanyahu’s indictments to his own, and has framed the Israeli leader as a victim of a politically motivated campaign.

In a November letter, Trump called on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to “unite Israel by pardoning Bibi [Netanyahu], and ending that lawfare once and for all”.

The US president has made similar claims in the past, most notably in the case of Brazil’s far-right former president, Jair Bolsonaro.

This year, Bolsonaro stood trial for his involvement in a coup plot to overturn his loss in the 2022 election.

Trump, however, defended Bolsonaro as the victim of a political “witch hunt” and imposed sanctions on Brazilian judicial officials involved in his prosecution. Still, in September, Bolsonaro was convicted, and two months later, he was taken into custody.

The office of Israeli President Isaac Herzog has issued a statement saying it has not had any ⁠conversations with Trump since the US president sent a request for Netanyahu to be pardoned for bribery and corruption charges.

The statement came shortly after Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago that he had spoken to Herzog and a pardon to end Netanyahu’s five-year trial was “on its way”.

Herzog had previously said he was reviewing legal opinions before responding to Trump’s request.

Trump effusively praised Netanyahu during today’s meeting when asked about the pardon, calling him a “hero” and suggesting Israel “might not exist right now” without his leadership.