Trump: You Gotta be reasonable, Bibi

US President Donald Trump tells Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he can resolve any problem Israel has with Turkiye, but Netanyahu has to be 'reasonable'. The Israeli PM's second meeting with President Trump comes as Tel Aviv seeks to block Washington's sale of F-35 fighter jets to Ankara over concerns it could harm Israel's operations in Syria.

Donald Trump has told Benjamin Netanyahu that he “has to be reasonable” over any disputes he has with Turkiye in Syria, in the US president’s latest public disagreement with the Israeli prime minister in recent months.

Speaking to reporters in the White House Oval Office as he hosted Netanyahu on Monday, Trump responded to a question about his administration’s stance towards Turkiye’s role in Syria by hailing his relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Stating that he has “great relations” with Erdogan, Trump called his Turkish counterpart “a tough guy, and he’s very smart, and he did something that nobody was able to do” by helping former Syrian rebels overthrow the Assad regime on 8 December. “I said, congratulations, you’ve done what nobody’s been able to do in 2,000 years. You’ve taken over Syria with different names, but same thing.”

READ: Turkish-US ties could gain momentum during Trump’s 2nd term: Erdogan

The US president then turned to Netanyahu sitting beside him and addressed the issue of the growing rivalry between Ankara and Tel Aviv within Syria, telling the Israeli premier: “If you have a problem with Turkiye, I really think you’re going to be able to work it out. You know, I have a very, very good relationship with Turkiye and with their leader, and I think we’ll be able to work it out. So, I hope that’s not going to be a problem. I don’t think it will be a problem.”

He also told Netanyahu — who looked uncomfortable and exchanged glances with his delegation — that, “Any problem that you have with Turkiye, I think I can solve. I mean, as long as you’re reasonable, you have to be reasonable. We have to be reasonable.”

Trump’s remarks signal the latest tensions between him and the Israeli leader in recent months. Many pointed out that Netanyahu looked displeased and uncomfortable when Trump announced his Gaza “takeover” plan back in February, prompting suspicions that the US president wants to dominate in his relationship with the Israeli premier and undermine the occupation state’s foreign policy goals.

READ: Is Trump’s ‘takeover’ of Gaza an American colonial enterprise or a negotiation tactic?

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.