Israeli Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu has been trying to meet United States (US) President Donald Trump for two weeks but to no avail, a foreign media outlet reported Friday.
According to reports quoting senior White House officials, no meeting has been scheduled between President Trump and Netanyahu despite reports in Israeli media claiming otherwise.
One official pointed out that Trump was angered by Netanyahu’s remarks during a Fox News interview shortly before the US president travelled to Ankara for the July NATO summit.
Another official added that Trump believed Netanyahu had “no right” to intervene in the proposed weapons sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkiye.
Israeli media reports had suggested Netanyahu planned to travel to Washington DC this weekend to attend the funeral of late Senator Lindsey Graham and meet Trump on Monday. However, Netanyahu’s office shared in a statement on Thursday that the trip was cancelled after the funeral service was postponed.
The White House officials said that Netanyahu wanted to see Trump but no meeting had been confirmed or placed on the president’s schedule. “Our impression was that Bibi was trying to will a meeting into existence.”
The news outlet added that White House officials did not rule out a meeting when Netanyahu eventually travels to Washington for Graham’s memorial service, however, the Israeli premier has reportedly sought a meeting with Trump for more than two weeks, having visited the Oval Office six times since Trump returned to office in January 2025.
The delay comes amid tensions between the Trump administration and Netanyahu’s government over the war with Iran.
On Wednesday, US Vice President JD Vance suggested that members of the Israeli government were seeking to undermine Washington’s diplomatic efforts with Tehran to prolong the military campaign.
The dispute over the F-35 sale began on the first day of the NATO summit in Ankara, where Trump maintained that he would consider allowing Turkiye to purchase the American fighter jets, reversing a decision from six years ago when his first administration sanctioned Ankara over its possession of Russian-made air defence systems.
“It’s a decision we’re going to make,” Trump shared during a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the latter’s presidential compound.
Turkiye remains barred from the F-35 programme under US law as long as it continues to possess the Russian-made air defences.
