Trump says he has ‘always had a very good relationship’ with Netanyahu

Former US president Donald Trump says he has “always had a very good relationship” with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking after a meeting at his Florida resort with the Israeli premier.

An Israeli official told reporters this morning that the prime minister had called the former US president on July 4 to wish him a happy US Independence Day, apparently, the first time the two had spoken since Trump’s presidency ended in January 2021.

But despite the yearslong silence, the Israeli official also said that the relationship between the two is “good.”

The premier’s relationship with Trump soured when Netanyahu congratulated Biden for winning the 2020 election, which Trump falsely denies losing.

Netanyahu, sitting across from Trump at a table alongside advisers, says Israel will be dispatching a negotiating team to Gaza ceasefire talks in Rome, “probably at the beginning of the week.”

The Axios news site reported earlier this evening that CIA director Bill Burns is also heading to Rome this weekend to try to close a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas.

Jacob Magid contributed to this report.