Relations between Washington and Tel Aviv may have been cooling for years, though President Trump says he was able to completely right the U.S. relationship with Israel with little more than a phone call.
Any rift that opened between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Obama administration has already been eased over, Trump told Sean Hannity in an interview to air on Fox Thursday night.
“It’s repaired … got repaired as soon as I …” the president said, according to a transcript of the conversation.
“Within five minutes?” Hannity questioned before Trump repeated any problems had been repaired.
“We have a good relationship. Israel has been treated very badly. We have a good relationship with them,” Trump said.
The President spoke to Netanyahu by phone on Sunday, and invited him to come to the U.S. next month.
Though the U.S. has long been Israel’s strongest ally, ties between the countries became strained because of the personal relationship between the right-wing prime minister and Obama.
Netanyahu went around the White House to speak directly to Congress about the “Iran deal” that he said was a threat to Israel’s survival, and also refused to meet with Obama last spring.
U.S. officials signed an agreement to give $38 billion in military aid to Israel in September, though Netanyahu’s administration acted angrily when the U.S. did not veto a unanimous UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory.
In its waning hours last week, the Obama administration released $221 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority that had been the subject of holds by two Republican members Congress.
Trump did not answer a question about whether he would have his State Department hold back the money.
His aide Kellyanne Conway has said that moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the divided city of Jerusalem is a “very big priority” for Trump, though he did not answer a question about the matter during his Thursday interview.
With News Wire Services.
