US President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as "a great wartime prime minister," while asserting that no American
president has done more for Israel than he has. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump highlighted his close working relationship with Netanyahu and pointed to his administration's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital as one of his signature foreign policy achievements. "Nobody has ever done anything for Israel like me," Trump said. "We worked with each other very closely." When asked whether he wanted Netanyahu to win another term, Trump declined to weigh in on Israeli domestic politics. "I don't know anything about his politics," Trump said, before adding, "I would think he should be popular, because he did a very good job." Trump's remarks come at a time when the US and Israel remain closely coordinated on regional security issues, even as tensions in West Asia continue to escalate following the recent conflict involving Iran. At the NATO summit, Trump has repeatedly defended his administration's support for Israel while also discussing developments across the region.
Trump 'Very Disappointed' With NATO Response to Iran War
Trump has expressed deep dissatisfaction with the response of NATO allies regarding the military conflict with Iran, revealing that he used the crisis as a test of alliance solidarity. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday during a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of the NATO leaders' summit in Ankara, the US President confirmed that his long-standing scepticism regarding the Western alliance had intensified following recent friction over strategic military cooperation.
For a considerable period, Trump has publicly questioned whether Washington's closest international partners possess the strength, loyalty, or utility required to justify the American security guarantees they have depended upon since the conclusion of the Second World War.
The reluctance of specific allied nations to permit the use of their air bases for American strikes against Iranian positions, coupled with their refusal to deploy military assets to secure the strategic Strait of Hormuz, has shifted the US President's traditional alliance scepticism into overt disapproval.
