Meeting Netanyahu, US defense secretary says Trump seeking ‘new ways to solve problems’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon on Wednesday, where the top US defense official praised Israel’s military achievements over the past 15 months of fighting with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The meeting came on the third day of Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, where he met earlier in the week with US President Donald Trump and a slew of senior members of his new administration.

It was the first meeting with a foreign leader that Hegseth has hosted since entering the role last month.

Arriving at the Pentagon on Wednesday afternoon, the premier was greeted by a military band, decked out in red and playing Hatikvah — the Israeli national anthem — and the Star-Spangled Banner. A Marine Corps honor guard bearing the Israeli flag waited to greet him as well.

During the meeting, Hegseth took the opportunity to praise Israel for its actions against the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon, and in particular for the assassination of its top military commander Fuad Shukr in July 2024.

Shukr, who had been a right-hand man to then-Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, was wanted by the US for his role in the 1983 bombing of a US Marines barracks in Beirut.

“You have a long memory, and we have a long memory,” Hegseth said.

He also praised Israel more widely for having “significantly degraded Iran and its proxies” over the past 16 months, the Department of Defense said in a readout of the meeting.

The two men also discussed the war against Hamas in Gaza, which was sparked by the terror group’s invasion and massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were seized as hostages. Dozens of US citizens were among the victims of the attack.

Stressing that the US will “support Israel’s right to defend itself,” Hegseth slammed the previous administration under the leadership of then-president Joe Biden for having held back a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs, over concerns that Israel would use them in densely populated parts of Gaza.

Trump lifted the hold on the weapons upon his return to the White House, and the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that the White House was readying a new package of weapons and military equipment for Israel to the tune of some $1 billion.

“We supplied munitions that were previously not supplied, that were useful in eradicating radical enemies,” Hegseth told Netanyahu, who, according to the US readout, praised the Trump administration for its “commitment to providing Israel with the munitions it needs.”

Touching on Trump’s bombshell declaration earlier this week, when he announced that the US would “take over” and “own” the Gaza Strip, Hegseth declined to say whether such a move would involve the deployment of US troops to the Palestinian enclave.

Instead, he explained that “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again.”

“The president is willing to think outside the box,” Hegseth said. “To find new and unique ways to solve problems that felt like they were intractable,” he says. “We are prepared to look at all options.”

Hegseth also noted that Netanyahu was the first foreign leader he has hosted since he was appointed Secretary of Defense last month.

He emphasized “the unbreakable bond that exists between the United States and Israel,” the readout stated, and he lauded Israel as “a model ally in the Middle East.”

In remarks of his own, Netanyahu also highlighted the unique allyship of Israel and the United States.

“We have no compunction about fighting our enemies by ourselves,” he said. “We are willing to shoulder the burden of our defense by confronting the forces of radicalism and terror, and the forces that are anti-American at their core.”

“They call you the Great Satan, and they call us the Small Satan, we just stand in their way. You are their great enemy,” he argued. “By confronting these various enemies, we are not only defeating those who wish to attack us, but those who wish to attack you as well.

“Therefore our victory is your victory,” said Netanyahu, adding that Israel is “well advanced” in pursuing its war goals.

In addition to meeting with Hegseth, Netanyahu met Wednesday with Vice President JD Vance and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz in Blair House.

Neither the US nor Israel provided a readout of the meeting.

Much of Netanyahu’s visit to Washington has been centered around Trump’s vision for post-war Gaza, which involves emptying it of its population and rebuilding it as “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

The president has insisted that Egypt and Jordan should volunteer to serve as hosts for the Gazans — an idea that the two countries have adamantly rejected, arguing that it would destabilize them and that the Palestinians should be allowed to remain on their land, just as Israelis are.

Netanyahu, in response to Trump’s plan, praised the president’s “willingness to think outside the box,” and said that his plan was “worth paying attention to.”

“You say things others refuse to say. And after the jaws drop, people scratch their heads and they say, ‘You know he’s right,’” he said of Trump during their joint press conference Tuesday.

Netanyahu’s visit to the White House is the first of a foreign leader since Trump assumed office.

The two have had tense relations in the past, but Netanyahu has seized on the Republican’s return to power after his ties with Biden became increasingly frayed over Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza.

“You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House,” said Netanyahu on Tuesday. “Can you imagine where we’ll be in four years?”

Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.