Trump’s Middle East Policy Is ‘Welcome Change,’ Netanyahu Tells Mattis

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis in Jerusalem on April 21, 2017. Image by Amos Ben Gerschom/GPO

By JTA April 21, 2017

(JTA) — President Trump’s recent actions in the Middle East are “a welcome change,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis during a meeting Friday in Jerusalem.

The “forthright words on the part of President Trump and very forthright deeds against the use of chemical weapons by Iran’s proxy, Syria,” Netanyahu said, have “been appreciated around the world and in our region. I think this is a welcome change, a strategic change of American leadership and American policy.”

A U.S. Navy vessel on April 7 launched 59 missiles into Syria in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons. Former president Barack Obama said the use of chemical weapons was a “red line,” but did not order a strike when such weapons were used.

Netanyahu also noted that Mattis had “very clear and forthright words” about Iran. “We sense a great change in the direction of American policy,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu and Obama clashed publicly over the nuclear deal with Iran, which offered the Islamic Republic sanctions relief in exchange for a partial scaling-back of its nuclear program. Netanyahu said the deal “paved Iran’s path” to obtaining nuclear weapons, whereas Obama said it was the best way to block that path.

The Iranians “appear to be living up to their part of the agreement,” Mattis said during a meeting with his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman. The nuclear deal “continues to be in force,” he said.

However, he also warned “that in no way mitigates against or excuses the other Iranian activities in the region including the war in Yemen that grinds on and what they’re doing in Syria” to keep Assad in power. “But the agreement on nuclear issues still stands and that’s all I can say about it.”

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO