Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video Sunday thanking President Donald Trump profusely for his help in what seemed a pointed and deliberate contrast to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s behavior.
There were other reasons for the address: as Breitbart News reported, Trump had just expedited the delivery of $4 billion in arms (in contrast to President Joe Biden), and had offered a proposal for extending the Gaza ceasefire.
But the subtext was unmistakable. On Friday, Zelensky confronted the President and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office itself, in a display that offended many Americans and that struck the U.S. leaders as deeply ungrateful.
Netanyahu sought to strike a contrast, thanking Trump, in English, “for all you are doing to return our hostages, bolster our security and provide a future of prosperity and peace for all the peoples of the Middle East.”
The video and transcript follow:
I want to thank President Trump for his unwavering support for Israel.
During my recent visit to Washington, I said that Donald Trump is the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House.
And President Trump shows that friendship each and every day.
He has shown it through his visionary plan for Gaza, this is a plan which Israel fully supports.
He’s shown it by sending us all the munitions that were being held up. This way he is giving Israel the tools we need to finish the job against Iran’s terror axis.
And he has shown it by fully backing Israel and putting the pressure to release the hostages where it truly belongs – on Hamas.
Israel has accepted President Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff’s plan to extend the temporary ceasefire by 50 days, during that time we can discuss the conditions for a permanent ceasefire that will end the war in Gaza.
In Witkoff’s plan, half of the hostages would be released right away and the remaining half would be released if we reach an agreement on a permanent ceasefire.
Again, Israel has accepted this plan. I accepted this plan. But so far, Hamas has rejected it.
Hamas had also put forward positions for a permanent ceasefire that are totally unacceptable.
Israel has decided to stop letting goods and supplies into Gaza, something we’ve done for the past 42 days. We’ve done that because Hamas steals the supplies and prevents the people of Gaza from getting them.
It uses these supplies to finance its terror machine, which is aimed directly at Israel and our civilians – and this we cannot accept.
We will take further steps if Hamas continues to hold our hostages. And throughout this, Israel knows that America and President Trump have our back.
Thank you again, President Trump!
Thank you for all you are doing to return our hostages, bolster our security and provide a future of prosperity and peace for all the peoples of the Middle East.
The U.S. has sent Ukraine nearly $200 billion in aid, mostly military, since the Russian invasion three years ago.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
