President Donald Trump complained that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli politicians spent too long addressing the country’s parliament before it was Trump’s turn to take a victory lap over the Gaza ceasefire.
“You’ve kept me quite late between opposition leaders and Bibi’s brilliant but very long speech,” the 79-year-old said.
“I thought I was going to run up here, make a speech, and then head to Egypt. It didn’t work out that way. And you made a pretty long one too, sir,” he continued, apparently addressing Ron Dermer, Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister and head of its negotiating team.
Trump spoke for more than an hour on Monday to Israel’s legislature, the Knesset, where he received a standing ovation and cheers of, “Trump! Trump!”
Netanyahu, by comparison, spoke for under 30 minutes.
The president’s rambling remarks meant he was delayed in leaving for Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, for a summit aimed at ending the war in Gaza.
Under the first phase of a ceasefire that took effect on Friday, 20 Israeli hostages were exchanged for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
A post-war plan still hasn’t been established, though, and the U.S. has not agreed to recognize a Palestinian state, despite commitments from the U.K. and France.
Trump’s speech at the Knesset was almost immediately interrupted by two opposition party members holding up signs that said, “Recognize Palestine!”
Both men were quickly detained and removed by security.
“That was very efficient,” remarked Trump, who was visibly irate.
During Trump’s speech, he mostly praised Netanyahu, but he did go off script with some pointed remarks warning the Israeli prime minister not to resume fighting.
At one point, Trump told Netanyahu he would be remembered “far more” for accepting a peace agreement than if he “kept this going, going, going, kill, kill, kill.”
Israeli’s military campaign in Gaza to wipe out Hamas has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-led health ministry.
Trump praised Israel’s resilience and strength following the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, in which Hamas killed roughly 1,200 people and took more than 200 others hostage.
Just before ending his speech, he took the remarkable step of calling on Israel’s president Isaac Herzog to pardon Netanyahu, who has been embroiled in a trio of corruption cases since 2019.
Many Israelis have accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war in Gaza to delay and distract from charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, according to CNN.
Netanyahu’s office announced he would not attend the Egypt summit because Monday was a Jewish holiday, the AP reported.
Other leaders including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Jordan’s King Abdullah, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas were scheduled to attend.
Trump complained during his speech before the Knesset that he would be late to meet them.
“I’ll be quite late,” he said. “They might not be there by the time I get there, but we’re going to give it a shot.”
The post Trump, 79, Moans That Other People’s Speeches Delayed His Much Longer Remarks appeared first on The Daily Beast.
