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Trump Hosts a Bilateral Meeting with the Prime Minister of Israel, Feb. 4, 2025

February 4, 2025 · The White House · 0:14:32

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Donald Trump hosted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel for a bilateral meeting at the White House on Feb. 4, 2025, carried on the White House channel (uploaded Feb. 6). The President called Netanyahu the right leader for Israel, noted their long friendship, and said the two did a great job together, as he stated it.

In questions, asked what would happen if Israel declined to go through with the deal to return all the hostages, the President answered: “We’ll see what happens. Whatever happens, we’ll be prepared to handle the situation.” Asked whether Saudi Arabia was demanding a Palestinian state as the price of normalization, he said the Saudis were demanding one thing - “Peace. We want peace. We want people to stop being killed. That’s everybody’s demand for peace. And he wants peace also.” Netanyahu, asked about credit for the hostage deal, said President Trump had added “great force and powerful leadership to this effort” and had sent a very good emissary, as he stated it. The President, asked about a Nobel Peace Prize, answered: “They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.”

Why it matters

The bilateral’s question session is the visit’s candid layer: the hostage deal’s fragility acknowledged in the President’s own words, the Saudi price described as peace alone, and the Prime Minister’s credit to the President’s emissary and leadership, all stated in the room.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: the hostage agreement and Saudi normalization discussions as stated on Feb. 4, 2025 - recorded here as stated by the two leaders.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Hosts a Bilateral Meeting with the Prime Minister of the State of Israel” (YouTube, 2025-02-04) - official description and broadcast transcript as aired.