From the Liveblog of
Monday, February 10, 2025
Netanyahu: Trump meeting was ‘friendliest, most significant’ ever between an Israeli PM and a US president
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Multiple lawmakers are removed for interrupting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he addresses the Knesset plenum following his visit to Washington in which he was hosted by US President Donald Trump.
The opposition boos and shouts at the premier, and MKs including Elazar Stern, Vladimir Beliak, Gilad Kariv and Merav Cohen are expelled from the chamber.
Netanyahu says that Israel has never been stronger and his meeting with Trump was the warmest he has experienced in his decades of politics.
“The historic meeting with Trump was the most important, the friendliest, and the most significant” of any Israeli prime minister with a US president, he says.
“We see eye to eye” on all of Israel’s war goals, including the destruction of Hamas and the return of all the hostages, Netanyahu continues, stating that Trump’s proposal for the future of Gaza represents “a new and creative vision, and he is determined to implement it.”
Netanyahu also criticizes the opposition for wanting to end the war earlier and says Trump has provided a “day after” plan for Gaza but says it is not the one that the opposition wanted.
“You wanted a day after [plan]? You got one… It just doesn’t match the Oslo narrative… We won’t repeat that mistake… I’ve come back with a vision without Hamas and without the Palestinian Authority.”
“We know what complete victory is and we will not give up on it,” Netanyahu declares, shaking his fist.
Standing up, Shas chairman Aryeh Deri yells at lawmakers jeering Netanyahu, stating that the prime minister’s speech is “hard for you to hear, but it’s true.”
In a tweet, Yesh Atid MK Yorai Lahav Hertzanu declares that “while Netanyahu boasts of his great achievements from the Knesset podium, [the hostages] are dying there. Dying of hunger, dying of torture, dying of abandonment.”
