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Biden and Netanyahu meet for the first time this year, signaling friendship amid disagreements

(JTA) — After months of icy relations, President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met face to face for the first time since Netanyahu’s return to office late last year — with both appearing eager to convey that the U.S.-Israel alliance remains on solid footing despite their disagreements.

The two leaders have been at odds for the better part of a year over a range of issues, from Netanyahu’s effort to weaken the Israeli court system to his far-right governing partners to the Biden administration’s attempts to reenter an agreement with Iran. Biden has demurred on inviting Netanyahu to the White House, and the nine months during which the men did not meet is the longest any Israeli prime minister has waited for a presidential meeting in 50 years. Earlier this summer, Biden invited Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Washington, D.C., a gesture seen as a snub of Netanyahu.

The meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City took place as hundreds of people, led by Israeli expatriates, gathered to protest Netanyahu and his judicial overhaul. The protesters, who are linked to a larger protest movement in Israel, say the legislation will gut the Israeli Supreme Court and erode Israel’s democracy — a position Biden has echoed repeatedly, including at Wednesday’s meeting.

But in their press conference, the president and prime minister both broadcast an image of conviviality and stressed points of agreement despite the notes of tension. The two leaders joked with each other, each mentioning their decades-long relationship, which dates back to Biden’s time as a Democratic senator and Netanyahu’s term as Israel’s U.N. ambassador in the 1980s.

“Joe, we’ve been friends for over 40 years, and our friendship goes a long way,” Netanyahu said. “And can take us a long way.”

Biden and Netanyahu met privately following the press conference, and Netanyahu will address the U.N. General Assembly on Friday.

On one key issue, Biden and Netanyahu appear to be relatively aligned: the prospect for a U.S.-brokered peace treaty between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The prospects of a Saudi-Israel deal have brightened in recent weeks as Biden brokered an agreement earlier this month, at the G-20 summit of industrial nations in India, to forge a trade corridor between India and Europe that would include hubs in Saudi Arabia and Israel.

At the press conference, Netanyahu said a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia was possible while Biden is president. Biden’s first term will conclude in  January 2025; he is running for reelection.

“I think that under your leadership was president, we can forge a historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia,” Netanyahu said. “I think such a piece would go a long way first to advance the end of the Arab Israeli conflict, achieve reconciliation between the Islamic world and the Jewish state and advance a genuine peace between Israel and the Palestinians.”

Biden agreed. “If 10 years ago we were talking about normalization with Saudi Arabia, we’d be speaking to each other like, ‘Who’s been drinking what?” he said.

Biden also mentioned the initiative in his speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday, saying the trade corridor would “spur opportunities and investment across two continents.”

“This is part of our effort to build a more sustainable, integrated Middle East,” Biden said in his speech. “It demonstrates how Israel’s greater normalization and economic connection with its neighbors is delivering positive and practical impacts even as we continue to work tirelessly to support a just and lasting peace between he Israelis and Palestinians — two states for two peoples.”

Netanyahu has supported such a trade route for decades, and appeared elated that Biden was placing the proposed corridor front-and-center in U.S. diplomacy. “Such a corridor will make Israel an important hub and a highway of unprecedented prosperity,” he told Biden.

Saudi Arabia’s leaders have been less bullish than Israel or the United States on the prospect of a deal, but they have signaled a degree of enthusiasm. One sign of that positivity was a conference they helped convene on the sidelines of the United Nations to revive sustained Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, which haven’t occurred for nearly a decade, and which Saudi leaders say would be critical to advancing peace between their country and Israel.

Despite their mutual optimism about an accord with Saudi Arabia, the press conference was replete with evidence of the two leaders’ disagreements over Israel’s democratic trajectory.

“We’re going to discuss some of the hard issues,” Biden said. “That is, the wholly democratic values that lie at the heart of our relationship, including checks and balances in our systems.”

Netanyahu said he was intent on preserving Israel’s democracy. “I want to reassure here before you, Mr. President, that one thing is certain, and one thing will never change. And that is Israel’s commitment to democracy,” he said. “We will continue to uphold the values that both our proud democracies cherish.”

Both leaders also mentioned Iran before they closed their meeting to media but did not seem to be particularly at odds when it came to that issue. In recent days,  Biden has drawn criticism from American foreign policy hawks for a prisoner exchange he brokered with Iran that also released money for humanitarian assistance to Iran.

Biden said their discussion would include “ensuring that Iran never never acquires a nuclear weapon. Because even though we have some differences, my commitment to Israel, you know, is ironclad.”

“I appreciate Mr. President, your continuous commitment to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability,” Netanyahu said. “That’s critical.”


The post Biden and Netanyahu meet for the first time this year, signaling friendship amid disagreements appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

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