President Trump Hosts a Bilateral Meeting with the Prime Minister of the State of Israel

Do you expect phase two of the hostage deal to go forward? Let me talk to you later, Mr. President.

You managed to get this deal done. Some say, a lot of people say that the men who managed to do that should get a Nobel Peace Prize. Do you think that you'll be able to get all the hostages back home? And what would happen if you hear.

From these, they will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.

Normalization to go forward. What needs to happen for normalization in Saudi Arabia?

Well, we're going to see. We're dealing with a lot of people and we have steps to go yet, as you know, and maybe those steps go forward and maybe they don't. We're dealing with a very complex group of people, situation and people. But we have the right man, we have the right leader of Israel. He's done a great job and we've been friends for a long time and we do a great job also. And I think we have a combination that's very unbeatable, actually.

Can I ask what will happen? What will happen, Mr. President?

Where is that person coming from?

Come on, Mr. President, what would happen if you hear from the Israeli side today that they are not willing to go through with the deal to get all the hostages back home and finish the war?

We'll see what happens. Whatever happens, we'll be prepared to handle the situation.

Are the Saudis demanding.

Are the Saudis demanding the Palestinian states? Are the Saudis demanding a Palestinian state? No, they're not. Nope.

Are they demanding a path towards a Palestinian state or any other recognition?

Demanding one thing. You know what it is? Peace. We want peace. We want people to stop being killed. Everybody is demanding one thing, simple peace. And he wants Peace also. Mr. President, do you think it's politically possible in Israel to get this deal done until the end? To get the deal done? Yeah, sure. Why wouldn't a deal get done? A deal can get done. We'll see what happens. We're dealing with very complicated people, but a deal can absolutely get done.

Strike on Iran.

We'll see what happens. President Trump, I have heard Prime Minister Netanyahu, we have heard Joe Biden and Donald Trump take credit for the hostage and cease fire deal. Who do you think deserves more credit?

I think President Trump added great force and powerful leadership to this effort. I appreciate it. He sent a very good emissary. He's helped it along and you know, I'll just tell you I'm happy that they're here and I'm sure the president is happy that they're here. And I would think that's about enough.

Mr. President Trump. Prime Minister, what about Elizabeth Zukov, the Israeli hostage house in Iraq?

What about the Israeli press taking a press conference in Israel and not in Washington?

We would love to take a press conference. Prime Minister Netanyahu, do you support going forward with this deal and getting all the hostages out?

I support getting all the hostages out and meeting all our war goals.

Can you do that without combat covering?

That include destroying Hamas's military and governing capabilities and making sure that Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again?

Are you willing to go all three?

Are you willing, are you willing to go together? Are you willing to find the Trump administration?

I think that I should talk to President Trump.

Okay, I'll ask. Do you agree with Trump's vision of getting all the hostages back home, even if it means to end the war?

Well, I'm not sure that you articulate correctly what the president's vision is. You can ask, he can speak for himself. He does that very, very well. I have my own views. Three goals. Not one, not two. Three goals. And I will meet all three goals. I think the president can help enormously. He brings fresh thinking, any address to.

Accept terrorists who murdered hundreds of people who listed their home as a part of the deal. It's a horrible thing. We can't forget it. I'll never forget it, and you can't for it. And some people want to put it out of their memory, but we're not going to ever let that happen. It was a horrible day, October 7th. That was a horrible, that was a horrible period of time. And a lot of people like to pretend it didn't happen. It happened. It's a big group of people that like to pretend it didn't happen, like the Holocaust didn't happen. Same mindset. And no, we're going to, we're going to get this thing wrapped up and we're going to get it done. We're also dealing, I think, very successfully with Russia, Ukraine. We're going to hopefully get that one done at some point in the not too distant future. That's a complex problem also, but we, we solve problems. We'll, you know, when I left, we had no problem. There was no Ukraine and Russia fighting. There was no October 7th. There was nothing. And some very poor leadership led to a lot of problems and a lot of death. And it's a shame. But we'll put it out. We'll put out the fires. We have a lot of fires but we'll put them out. Like the peace plan you presented in January 2020. Is this plan still on the table? Well, a lot of plans change with time. And a lot of death has occurred since I left and now came back. This death occurred not while I was here, but while somebody else was here. It shouldn't have happened. They shouldn't have allowed it to happen. It would have never happened. And that includes Russia. Ukraine would have never happened. Not even a little bit, not even a chance. But now we are faced with a situation that's different in some ways and in some ways worse. But we're faced with a very complex and difficult situation. But we'll solve the problem.

Mr. President, from Gaza, out of Gaza, if not Jordan, Egypt, what other countries do you think might accept Palestinians from Gaza?

Well, I think Jordan and Egypt will. I know they've spoken about it with you and they say they're not going to accept. I say they will, but I think other countries will accept also. I think that Gaza maybe is a demolition site right now. If you look at Gaza, it's all, I mean, there's hardly a building standing and the ones that are, are going to collapse. You can't live in Gaza right now. And I think we need another location. I think it should be a location that's going to make people happy. You look over the, over the decades, it's all death in Gaza. This has been happening for years. It's all death. If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people permanently in nice homes and where they can be happy and not be shot, not be killed, not be knifed to death like what's happening in Gaz. And right now you have in Gaza a very dangerous situation in terms of explosives all over the place, in terms of tunnels that nobody knows who's in the tunnel. The whole thing is a mess. And I think that if we can resettle, and I believe we can do it in areas where the leaders currently say no. I mean, I've been saying that with Mexico having to do with the border and all of the things, and you saw what happened, 10,000 soldiers, and they're going to do a good job. I really believe that. And I believe Canada is going to do a good job also. They said the same thing and then they did something much different than what you were hearing. This is a very, very difficult situation, but we're going to get it solved. I don't think people should be going back to Gaza. I think that Gaza has been very unlucky for them. They've lived like hell. They lived like you're living in hell. Gaza is not a place for people to be living. And the only reason they want to go back, and I believe this strongly, is because they have no alternative. What's the alternative? Go where? There's no other alternative. If they had an alternative, they'd much ra rather than not go back to Gaza and live in a beautiful alternative that's safe.

Mr. President, did you get to see.

Would Palestinians have the right to return to Gaza if they left while the rebuilding was ended? It would be my hope that we could do something really nice, really good where they wouldn't want to return. Why would they want to return? The place has been hell. It's been one of the meanest, one of the meanest, toughest places places on earth. And right now it's. I've seen every picture from every angle better than if I were there. And nobody can live there. You can't live there. So if we can build them through massive amounts of money supplied by other people, very rich nations, and they're willing to supply it, if we can build something for them in one of the countries, and it could be Jordan and it could be Egypt, it could be other countries and you could build four or five or six areas. It doesn't have to be one area, but you take certain areas and you build really good quality housing, like a beautiful town, like someplace where they can live and not die. Because Gaza is a guarantee that they're going to end up dying. The same thing is going to happen again. It's happened over and over again, and it's going to happen again, as sure as you're standing there, Peter. So I hope that we could do something where they wouldn't want to go back. Who would want to go back? They've experienced nothing but death and destruction. Well, I don't think they're going to tell me no. I think they're going to tell Biden no. And I think they're going to tell other people not. Do you think it will happen in the end? I think there's a good chance, yeah. How much people who you're thinking about? All of them. I mean, we're talking about probably a million seven people. A million seven? Maybe a million eight. But I think all of them, I think there'll be resettled in areas where they can live a beautiful life and not be worried about dying every day. Mr. President, do you support building settlements, Jewish settlements back in Gaza in the next years? Say it. Building settlements, Jewish settlements back in Gaza. In the next year. Do you support this? I don't see it happening. It's too dangerous for people. Nobody can go there. It's too dangerous. Nobody wants to be there. Warriors don't want to be there. Soldiers don't want to be there. How can you have people go back? You're saying, go back into Gaza now the same thing is going to happen. It'll only be death. The best way to do it is you go out and you get beautiful open areas with the sunlight coming through and you build something nice. They are not going to want to go back to Gaza.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, what is your message to the families of the hostages that look at this deal? They're worried that this deal won't go through. What do you say to them at this moment?

Same message. I said from the beginning of the war, we'll get them out, get them back. We got over 70%, close to 75% of the people who everybody believed will not get out. We got them in successive deals and most recently with the help of President Trump. We're not going to give up on any of them, and we're not going to give up on our other war aims. Hamas is not going to be in Gaza and we're going to get everyone back.

How optimistic are you about reaching phase two of the ceasefire? How optimistic are you about that happening?

Well, we're going to try. That's one of the reasons, one of the things we're going to talk about here. And if we, you know, when Israel and the United States work together and President Trump and I work together, you know, the chances go up a lot. It's when we don't work together, Israel and the United States don't work together. That creates problems. When the other side sees daylight between us, and occasionally in the last few years, to put it mild, they saw daylight then. It's more difficult.

When we cooperate, chances are good once and for all. Say it now that Iran is so weak, isn't it the right time to visit nuclear facilities once and for all? So you say Iran is so weak. I appreciate you saying that. They're not weak. They're very strong right now. And we're not. We're not going to allow them to have a nuclear weapon. It's very simple. You know, I signed a very strong proclamation. Iran was in big trouble. When I left. Left, they were broke. They didn't have money for Hamas, they didn't have any money for Hezbollah. You had no problem. October 7th could have never happened. When I left October 7th could have never happened. And frankly, Russia and Ukraine, as I said, could never have happened. They became very strong very fast. They sold massive amounts of oil to China and everybody else who would not buy the oil when I was president, because we said, don't buy the oil. And they became very rich very quickly. But they're not weak. They're not weak. They're strong. Doesn't mean they won't be weak. But you know what? We just don't want them to have a nuclear weapon. They can't have a nuclear weapon. When you go to president, the prime minister wants you to strike Iran. That's what he wants. You don't know what he wants. What do you know about anything?

That option is on the table. President Trump, is that option on the table?

No. Could be other places, too. There are many people that have reached out, many countries, many leaders of countries that have reached out, out that would like to participate in that. Doesn't have to be Jordan and Egypt, but I think it would be also them. And, Mr. President, your relationship with Mr. Netanyahu knew ups and downs. How would you describe it right now? I think it's mostly ups.

Mr. President, shouldn't it rule Gaza? Because Gaza will be empty.

What?

The Palestinian Authority cannot rule Gaza.

What do you think?

Well, it's had a pretty hard time, wouldn't you say? I'd say it's had a pretty bad time of it, Mr. President. Qatar has. You've criticized them in the past as a funder of terrorism. So is the prime Minister. Do you think they're part of the solution or part of a problem moving forward? I think they're trying to help. Qatar is absolutely trying to help. I know him very well, and they're doing everything they can. Very tough situation, but they are absolutely trying to help. Thank you very much, everybody.