NATIONAL NEWS

As Trump seeks to be a peacemaker, Netanyahu leaves Washington without breakthrough on Gaza deal

Jul 11, 2025, 3:50 AM | Updated: 5:36 am

President Donald Trump, from back row left, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcl...

President Donald Trump, from back row left, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, meet with Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, front row from second left, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu's wife Sara Netanyahu, Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Israel's National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi and Israel's Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs in the Blue Room of the White House, Monday, July 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to Washington this week netted President Donald Trump another nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize he covets, but the ceasefire the U.S. leader sought for the war in Gaza didn’t emerge.

Despite Trump throwing his weight behind a push for a 60-day truce between Israel and Hamas, no breakthrough was announced during Netanyahu’s visit, a disappointment for a president who wants to be known as a peacemaker and has hinged his reputation on being a dealmaker.

“He prides himself or being able to make deals, so this is another test case,” said Rachel Brandenburg, the Israel Policy Forum’s Washington managing director and senior fellow.

Trump’s ability to strike a ceasefire deal in the 21-month war will reveal the boundaries of his influence with Netanyahu, especially after their recent joint strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities that both leaders touted at the White House this week.

Beyond the back-to-back meetings Trump and Netanyahu had at the White House this week, there was little public evidence of progress at a time when the Republican U.S. president is pushing to end the fighting.

‘Closer than we’ve been,’ but challenges remain

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that when it comes to a ceasefire in Gaza, “we’re closer than we’ve been in quite a while and we’re hopeful, but we also recognize there’s still some challenges in the way.”

Rubio, who spoke to reporters while traveling in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, also said that Trump “wants to see a ceasefire and we’ve invested a lot of time and energy.”

Beyond ending the bloodshed, ending the war in Gaza would give Trump more leeway to strike some of the broader agreements he seeks in the Middle East, such as expanding normalizing relations with Syria’s new government.

“He wants to be the one who gets hostages home and see the war in Gaza end so he can move on to some of these bigger deals,” Brandenburg said.

Even if a truce is reached, Netanyahu has promised fighting will continue if necessary until Hamas is destroyed. The militant group, meanwhile, has conditioned the release of the remaining hostages on Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, a stipulation Israel has been unwilling to accept.

Trump-Netanyahu relationship sees a rebound

It’s unclear how much pressure Trump put on Netanyahu in their private talks this week. But the two leaders came into the visit seeming more aligned than ever — at least for now — fresh off the president having twice come to the Israeli leader’s assistance.

Trump made the risky move to join Israel’s attacks on Iran last month, delivering pivotal U.S. firepower while alarming world leaders and some of Trump’s “America first” supporters. Trump also inserted himself into Israel’s domestic affairs, calling for Netanyahu’s yearslong corruption trial to be thrown out.

That’s a marked turnaround in their relationship, which had appeared somewhat strained in recent years.

Trump shocked some of his fellow Republicans and staunch supporters of Israel by publicly criticizing Netanyahu not long after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, setting off the conflict.

He said that Netanyahu “was not prepared” for the attack from Hamas and that Netanyahu had “let us down” just before the U.S. killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in 2020.

Even during his last visit to the White House earlier this year, Netanyahu seemed caught off guard when Trump announced the U.S. would hold talks with Iran over its nuclear deal rather than embrace Netanyahu’s push for military pressure.

With their military objectives aligning for a time on Iran, the Israeli leader has worked to foster a warmer relationship.

In a video he released after the U.S. strikes, Netanyahu spoke — in English instead of Hebrew — of the “unshakeable alliance” between their countries while repeatedly praising Trump.

“His leadership today has created a pivot of history that can help lead the Middle East and beyond to a future of prosperity and peace,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu tries the charm offensive on Trump

In his visit to Washington this week, the Israeli leader also showed he knows how to praise the president in a way that matters greatly to him when he unveiled a letter in front of reporters and cameras to announce he had nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Those gestures, though, may only carry him so far as Trump pushes for a deal that Netanyahu may not be able to accept.

“I think if Netanyahu stands in the way too much for too long of the sort of loftier objectives Trump has set out for himself,” Brandenburg said, “Netanyahu will be cast aside as more of a problem than an asset.”

Netanyahu, like many Israelis, believes Trump is the greatest friend they have ever had in the White House and is deeply grateful for the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites last month.

Netanyahu faces competing pressures at home and abroad

But the Israeli leader is also under mounting public pressure to end the war as hostages languish in captivity and more Israeli soldiers are killed in guerrilla-style attacks.

Israel’s military success against Iran has given him some political capital, but if he ends the war while leaving Hamas intact, he will have broken his repeated promise of “total victory.”

His far-right coalition partners have threatened to bolt if he does that, sparking early elections that could end his nearly unbroken 16 years in power and leave him more vulnerable to long-standing corruption charges.

That may prove too heavy a price for delivering the kind of lasting ceasefire sought by Trump and demanded by Hamas. Instead, Netanyahu, who is seen as a masterful politician by friends and foes alike, is expected to thread the needle.

In a video statement on Thursday, Netanyahu said that he would agree to a “temporary” 60-day ceasefire in return for the release of half the hostages remaining in Gaza, many of whom are believed dead, and that he would begin negotiations on ending the war.

But he conditioned any lasting ceasefire on Hamas giving up its arms – something the militants have refused to do as long as Israel occupies parts of Gaza.

If Hamas can be disarmed through negotiations, “so much the better,” Netanyahu said. “If it is not achieved through negotiations in 60 days, we will achieve it in other ways — by using force.”

___

Krauss reported from Ottawa, Ontario.

National News

Associated Press

Appeals court throws out plea deal for alleged mastermind of Sept. 11 attacks

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided federal appeals court has thrown out an agreement that would have allowed accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to plead guilty in a deal that would have spared him the risk of execution for al-Qaida’s 2001 attacks. The decision Friday undoes an attempt to wrap up more than two […]

7 minutes ago

Associated Press

Atlanta man gets more than 150 years in prison for starving daughter and abusing other children

ATLANTA (AP) — An Atlanta man accused of killing his 4-year-old daughter by denying her food and water has been sentenced to more than 150 years in prison after being convicted of murder, kidnapping and other charges, prosecutors said. Rodney McWeay, 33, was sentenced Thursday in Treasure McWeay’s death. He was also convicted of other […]

8 minutes ago

FILE - Giant wind turbine blades for the Vineyard Winds project are stacked on racks in the harbor,...

Associated Press

Wind turbine maker to pay settlement after blade broke apart and washed up on Nantucket beaches

NANTUCKET, Mass. (AP) — The maker of a massive wind turbine blade that broke apart off Nantucket Island and washed up on beaches for months has agreed to a $10.5 million settlement to pay local businesses for their economic losses, officials said Friday. Fiberglass fragments of the blade began washing ashore last summer during the […]

17 minutes ago

Associated Press

Death threats over Texas flooding cartoon force museum journalism event to be postponed

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — An event in support of local reporting was postponed after death threats against a journalist for his newspaper editorial cartoon about the catastrophic flooding in Texas, according to a union. An online fury erupted this week over an editorial cartoon in The Buffalo News by Pulitzer Prize-winner Adam Zyglis showing a […]

27 minutes ago

This image provided by U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission shows Walmart’s “Ozark Trail 64 ...

Associated Press

Walmart recalls 850,000 water bottles after two consumers suffer vision loss from ejecting lids

NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart is recalling about 850,000 stainless steel water bottles because the lid can “forcefully eject” and unexpectedly strike consumers — resulting in permanent vision loss for two people to date. The recall covers Walmart’s “Ozark Trail 64 oz Stainless Steel Insulated Water Bottles,” which have been sold at the chain’s stores […]

1 hour ago

Zach Stockton, center, pounds a stake into the ground as a crew works to stabilize a Christmas tree...

Associated Press

Texas floodwaters damaged crops and endangered livestock. Now farmers and ranchers are cleaning up

BEND, Texas (AP) — Across a wide swath of Texas, the inundated rivers that ravaged communities also tore through farms and ranches. In the town of Bend, about two hours north of Austin, Boyd Clark waded into rising waters to help one of his stranded ostrich hens. Matthew Ketterman spent several agonizing hours trapped on […]

3 hours ago

As Trump seeks to be a peacemaker, Netanyahu leaves Washington without breakthrough on Gaza deal