LIVE: Trump & Netanyahu Speak on Middle East Crisis, Hamas, Iran & Russia | Mar-a-Lago Press | AC15

Coming out now. People could come in. Come on over, fellas. We had a big meeting with a lot of people, a lot of talent from Israel and from the US. And I think we came to a lot of conclusions, a lot of conclusions, and there's very little difference in what we're looking at and where we want to be, where we want to go. And so I just want to thank you for spending time. I know you're going to be over here for a couple of days and maybe we'll be surprising us on New Year's Eve. That'll be fine.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. You know, as I said outside, he's been a wartime prime minister, and we were, look, I guess I could say I was a wartime president in more places than just Israel, if you think about it. But Israel was a big factor, and we're with you and we'll continue to be with you, and a lot of good things are happening in the Middle East. We have peace in the Middle East, and we're going to try and keep it that way. I think we will be very successful in keeping it that way. And you've been a great friend, and I've been a great friend to you and to Israel, and it's been my honor, and the award that I was given was really surprising and very much appreciated.

Thank you, baby, very much. That really is a great honor.

Well, we talked about Hamas and we talked about disarmament, and they're going to be given a very short period of time to disarm, and we'll see how that works out. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be in charge of that from our side. But if they don't disarm as they agreed to do, they agreed to it and then they'll be held to pay for them, and we don't want that. We're not looking for that. But they have to disarm within a fairly short period of time.

Well, that's a separate subject. We'll talk about that.

Well, we have had a discussion, big discussion for a long time on the West Bank, and I wouldn't say we agree on the West Bank 100%. But we will come to a conclusion on the West Bank.

Well, I don't want to do that. It'll be announced at an appropriate time, but he will do the right thing. I know that. I know him very well. He will do the right thing. Yes. There is a growing fear of a confrontation between Israel and Turkey. How are you going to ease this tension given the fact that Erdogan, President Erdogan calls Mr. Netanyahu Hitler and compares Israel to the Nazis? Well, I know President Erdogan very well, and as you all know, he's a very good friend of mine, and I believe that, and I do respect him, and Bibi respects him, and they're not going to have a problem. They're not going to have a problem. I know him very well. And you've seen me do things with President Erdogan and Turkey that nobody else could have done. We're not going to have a problem. He's done a fantastic job. I'm with him all the way. I'm with Bibi all the way. Nothing's going to happen.

Well, I'm not concerned about anything that Israel is doing. I'm concerned about what other people are doing or maybe aren't doing, but I'm not concerned. They've lived up to the plan. They're strong. They're solid. And sometimes they don't understand when somebody violates something that you want to give them a second chance. Well, we'll give them a couple of second chances. But no, Israel's lived up to the plan 100%. Don't forget, we made the plan possible by taking out Iran. And speaking of Iran, I hope they're not trying to build up again because if they are, we're going to have no choice but very quickly to eradicate that buildup. So, I hope Iran is not trying to build up as I've been reading that they're building up weapons and other things. And if they are, they're not using the sites that we obliterated, but they're using possibly different sites. We know exactly where they're going, what they're doing, and I hope they're not doing it because we don't want to waste the fuel on a B-2. It's a 37-hour trip both ways. I don't want to waste a lot of fuel.

Which request are you talking about?

Erdogan is the president.

Yeah.

Oh, well, you got to say that. No, I think he's going to be in great shape. He's a wartime prime minister at the highest level. He's achieved tremendous success. And I'll say it, you know, if you had eight out of 10 prime ministers in his position right now or before right now, maybe you wouldn't have Israel any longer. Israel would not exist. I'd say two of them would, and eight of them wouldn't. Those are not good odds. You needed a very special man to really carry through and really help Israel through this horrible jam. You know, these are major factions, and it started with our negotiation with Iran. I think it probably started with Soleimani. That was really where, you mentioned that today. It started with Soleimani. Bad guy doing bad things, hurting a lot of people, killing American soldiers and other soldiers. But it started right there. That would probably be the starting point. And then from that point forward, but you have a wartime prime minister at the highest level. There could be other wartime prime ministers, but they'd lose. He won, and I think the people of Israel appreciate it. I think a lot of the people in the world appreciate it actually. And because of that victory, we were able to get peace in the Middle East. If you had a different kind of personality, if you had a weak person or a stupid person, and there are plenty of both of them, you would not have had success, and you might not have Israel, and you report for Israel. I know you're very proud of it and you do a great job. You might not have a job because there might not be an Israel right now if you had a different prime minister. That's a big statement, but to me it's a very simple statement to make. I'm looking at Pete Hegseth, and he's sort of nodding. If they don't have a strong prime minister, Pete, you might not have Israel today. I think he'll go down in the record books. And you know, I was a big help. I'll be honest with you. Big, big help. Somebody may have said in the room, if you don't have Trump, you needed a proper combination of everything. And if you didn't have that combination, which they had, you would not have an existing Israel right now. And the people of Israel know it. That's why they like me. And it's why they really, they actually like him. He's got a little bit of love-hate more than I do over there. But you know what? Even the haters have a lot of respect for him. There's a lot of jealousy about him. A lot of jealousy. Jealousy is a bad word. But I believe you would not have Israel right now. So it's a big deal. Yeah. Please.

I heard that number today. Half of Gaza would leave. I've always said it. I said if they were given the opportunity to live in a better climate, they would move. They're there because they sort of have to be. I think it would be a great opportunity. But let's see if that opportunity presents itself. But we're helping the people of Gaza a lot. So is Israel, by the way. So we'll see what happens. But I saw that it was a poll. It was actually more than half the people would leave if they were given the opportunity. And I've been saying that for a long time. It was, to me, it was common sense. So it's interesting.

Look, let's not talk about that because we don't want the controversy right now. We're helping Gaza. But if they were given the opportunity, I think even higher than that. The person, the group that did the poll is usually I call them negative polls. You have a lot of them. And yet this poll was, I think, very accurate. Other than it would be more than half the people if given the opportunity, but they haven't been given that opportunity. So we'll see what happens.

We do have an understanding regarding Syria. Now with Syria, you know, your new president, I respect him. He's a very strong guy, and that's what you need in Syria. You can't put a choir boy. You can't put a, you know, somebody that's a perfect person. Everything's nice. No problems in life. You have the opposite there. He's a strong guy. We get along with him great. I can't ask for any more. He's been with us all the way. We had that mishap with ISIS, and he was with us all the way. He was fighting them, you know. So, I hope that Israel, I'm sure that Israel and him will get along. I will try and make it so that they do get along.

I think they will. Bibi, do you have anything to say about that?

And we stand for the same thing. And don't forget, it was President Erdogan that helped very much get rid of a very bad ruler of Syria. That was President Erdogan. And he never wanted the credit for it. But he gets a lot of credit. Bibi agrees with that. I agree with it. I mean, I know it. And President Erdogan should get a lot of good credit for what he did. He got rid of some very bad people. And you know, they've been wanting to do that for a thousand years with different names, but for a thousand years in Syria. President Erdogan did it, and we give him a lot of credit. I give him a lot of credit. But I think it's going to work out well between Syria and Israel.

Well, we're going to see about that. We'll see about it. The Lebanese government is at a little bit of a disadvantage if you think of it with Hezbollah, but Hezbollah has been behaving badly. So, we'll see what happens.

Well, I don't want to say that, but Iran may be behaving badly. It hasn't been confirmed, but if it's confirmed, look, they know the consequence. Consequences will be very powerful, maybe more powerful than the last time. And Iran should have made a deal the last time. I gave them the option. I said, 'You can make a deal. Do it.' I told them, 'Do it.' And they didn't believe me. Now they believe me.

This is just what we hear, but usually where there's smoke, there's fire. Have you heard the expression?

No, I'm hearing that they're not nuclear yet, but maybe nuclear, too. The sites were obliterated, but they're looking at other sites. That's what I've heard. They're looking, so it'll take a long time. They're not going to go back to where they were, but they have other places they can go. And if they're doing that, they're making a big mistake. Yeah. Please. There's no reason for them to do it.

I would. Yes.

I have been, by the way, before the war I would support that. I said to them, baby, I said, 'Let's negotiate.' And they didn't believe what was going to happen would happen. Yes, ma'am.

Well, I have a great relationship with President Xi, and he hasn't told me anything about it. I certainly have seen it, but he hasn't told me anything about it, and I don't believe he's going to be doing it.

No, nothing worries me. Nothing.

I've been doing naval exercises for 20 years in that area. Now people take it a little bit differently, but in fact, larger than they're doing right now. So we'll see. But they've been doing that for 20, 25 years. Yeah.

It would be horrible for them. Horrible. Going to be really, really bad for them, and I don't want that to happen. But they made an agreement that they were going to disarm, and you couldn't blame Israel. By the way, we have other countries that will come in and do it. They said, 'Let us do it for you if they don't.' Countries that were with them, wanted the deal to be made, agreed that they would disarm. And now, if they say they're going to disarm, that's fine. And if they say they're not going to disarm, those same countries will go and wipe them out. They don't even need Israel. You know, we have many countries, 59 countries that are in agreement. This is a real peace in the Middle East, and Hamas is a small part of it, but it's still a part of it. But we have 59 countries that signed on. Big countries, countries that are outside of the Middle East, as you know. They want to go in and wipe out Hamas. They don't want Israel. They don't need Israel. They want to do it because it's the right thing to do. Because they were for the deal based on the fact that Hamas pledged, they swore that they were going to disarm. Now, if they're not going to disarm, those same countries will wipe out Hamas. President Trump, do you think that the PA should be involved in the day after in Gaza Strip, even in the near future? And the same question to Prime Minister Netanyahu. Do you see a real opportunity that the PA will be in Gaza?

If you can tell us something about your plan to expand Abraham Accords. Well, the Abraham Accords are a great, it is a great achievement of Jared and everybody. I mean, it was one of the great achievements. They'll be expanded. Countries are already talking about expanding it, and they'll be expanded fairly quickly. Yeah, please.

Saudi Arabia is great. We have a great leader and a friend of mine, and a friend of a lot of people, also an enemy of some people, but those people aren't doing so well. No, Saudi Arabia has been very good as far as I'm concerned. They've done everything that we can ask for.

I think they're getting along great with Israel. They will. And at some point they'll sign the Abraham Accords.

Still do.

Yeah, I'll announce them at the right time. There's plenty of time. In the meantime, we're doing numbers that nobody's ever seen. We have $18 trillion coming in. We had a 4.3% GDP. They thought it was going to be 2%. And that's despite the Democrat shutdown. Had the shutdown not occurred, we would have had an extra point and a quarter. Think of that. We are doing, also despite the fact that we have a fool at the Federal Reserve. I mean, Biden reappointed him. It's too bad. You would have thought he wouldn't have done that. But he's an absolute fool who's building a new Federal Reserve, or he's doing a renovation of a building. Bibi, he's up to $4.1 billion dollars to do a renovation of a few very small buildings. It's the highest price in the history of construction. He's spending more money than any building has ever spent per square foot on the renovation, as an example. I'm doing a magnificent, big, beautiful ballroom that the country has wanted, the White House has wanted for 150 years. It's a massive job, and it's a tiny fraction of that number, and we're under budget and ahead of schedule. Now it's bigger than I told you. It's, you know, after realizing we're going to do the inauguration in that building. It's got all bulletproof glass. It's got, they call it drone-free roof. The drones won't touch it. It's a big, beautiful, safe building. But it's, you know, some big budget for a tiny fraction of that. We're under budget and ahead of schedule. And they've wanted it for 150 years. Think of it. The Federal Reserve building, two buildings there, they don't know what they're doing. They're way over budget. I mean, almost this was built during the Biden administration, and I drove by it the other day, and it's headed by the head of the Federal Reserve. Too late, you know. Too late, Powell. Too late, because he's always too late with interest rates. Except before the election, he was too early because that would have helped. That was supposed to help get her elected. It had no impact. We won all seven swing states. But no, no, we're thinking about bringing a suit against Powell for incompetence. Because think of it, these are two, these aren't outstanding buildings. These are small buildings. He said four billion more. It's going to end up costing more than $4 billion. Four billion. It's the highest price of construction. Again, Democrats, highest price of construction per square foot in the history of the world. It's never been. Gorgeous monuments are built for a much smaller price. So, we're thinking about bringing a gross incompetence, what's called gross incompetence lawsuit. It's gross incompetence against Powell. And it was his baby, and the guy's just incompetent. I mean, there's nothing you can do about it. He's just a very incompetent man. But we're going to probably bring a lawsuit against him. Thank you all very much. I appreciate it. Bibi, congratulations.

January something.

It would be a favor to the nation, but he's come close. I mean, we're getting pretty close.

I would, I'd love to fire him, but we're so close, you know. Maybe I still might.

We're thinking about it very seriously.

They'll never use it. Okay. I promise. Thank you, press. Thank you, press.