Sources: Netanyahu Fails to Arrange Trump Meeting as U.S. Pushes for IDF's Lebanon Withdrawal

One source said U.S.-Iran fighting was cited as a reason to delay the meeting, while a Trump administration official told Haaretz that an official meeting was not actually scheduled. Meanwhile, Trump said Lebanon's President Aoun could 'become one of the most important leaders in the Middle East'

July 21st, 23PM July 21st, 23PM

A meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that was set for this week has been postponed at the request of the American side, a source familiar with the details told Haaretz.

While one source said the situation in Iran was responsible for the delay, two other sources said the meeting was postponed in an effort to pressure Israel into beginning to withdraw troops from the first pilot zone in southern Lebanon, allowing the Lebanese army to deploy there instead.

Meanwhile, Trump met at the White House on Monday with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, whom Trump said "could become one of the most important leaders in the Middle East."

Trump added that he and Aoun will be speaking about the so-called pilot zones, where Israelis are set to hand over three villages in the IDF-controlled buffer zone to the Lebanese military. Trump said that there are some "very concrete plans already" for the Lebanese Army to "take over the villages that Hezbollah withdrew from," which will be discussed.

Trump also said Washington will "look into" reports that the Israeli military fired at Lebanese forces deploying in the pilot zones.

An Israeli source denied that the Americans were the ones who decided to postpone the meeting between Trump and Netanyahu, which he said was scheduled on Monday. Instead, he attributed the postponement to Netanyahu's decision to postpone his flight to the U.S., since Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham's funeral was delayed.

However, an official in the Trump administration told Haaretz that no meeting between the two leaders at the White House was scheduled in the first place.

The Prime Minister's Office told Haaretz on Monday that no decision has yet been made on whether Netanyahu will fly to Washington next week. The Prime Minister's Office isn't believed to have prepared for such a flight, even though Graham's official funeral services are set to be held on July 28 and July 29.

One source noted that efforts are being made to schedule a new meeting with Trump early next week. The Israeli source confirmed that the Americans had urged Israel to begin implementing the IDF's withdrawal from pilot areas in southern Lebanon before Trump met with Aoun.

If the meeting does happen, the situation in Iran and Lebanon is expected to be at the top of the agenda.

Israeli sources believe Netanyahu is interested in renewing the war with Iran and having the IDF play an active role in a military campaign. As Israel's election nears, a major assault on Iran could destabilize the regime, even though that failed to happen in the previous round of fighting in the spring, and have favorable impacts on Netanyahu's campaign.

Other issues expected to come up if the two meet are the lack of progress in implementing Trump's 20-point plan for the Gaza Strip and the U.S. president's intention to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.

Another issue the two are likely to discuss is the U.S. military aid to Israel after a vote by 103 Democratic congress members as well as Republican Thomas Massey to stop the aid to Israel immediately. The resolution was overturned, but the vote indicated the U.S. Democratic party's increasingly wavering relationship with Israel.

In an interview with Axios earlier this month, Trump said Netanyahu had sought the meeting, which could have taken place as early as the following week. A significant rift has developed between Washington and Jerusalem over the war in Iran and Trump's unhappiness with Netanyahu over the latter's insistence on continuing the attacks in Lebanon.

Tensions between the two escalated into a shouting match, according to an Axios report that neither side denied. Vice President JD Vance, considered the most moderate voice in the administration on Iran and who is responsible for conducting negotiations with Tehran, said last week in an interview with Joe Rogan's podcast that some in Israel "are manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to keep the war going on indefinitely."

Netanyahu has given interviews to U.S. media outlets in recent weeks in an apparent effort to minimize the damage to his relations with the Trump administration.