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Exclusive-Donald Trump foreign policy advisers met Israeli PM Netanyahu, source says
By Gram Slattery
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Three former U.S. foreign policy officials in Donald Trump’s administration met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other public figures in Israel on Monday, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
The delegation was comprised of Robert O’Brien, who served as Trump’s fourth and final national security adviser, as well as former Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates John Rakolta and former Ambassador to Switzerland Ed McMullen, said the person, who requested anonymity as the trip’s itinerary was not public.
In addition to Netanyahu, the delegation met Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid and several other Israeli officials, the person said.
Among the main goals of the trip was to obtain a better understanding of Israel’s complex domestic political situation, said the person familiar with the visit. Netanyahu’s coalition is beset by internal disagreements, with many Israelis blaming his government for failing to prevent the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
It was a rare case of Trump allies traveling abroad as part of an organized delegation to meet foreign officials. It took place amid strains between Israel and the Biden administration about Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza.
On Monday, the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor in The Hague said he had requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his defense chief and three Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes.
Israel and Palestinian leaders have dismissed allegations of war crimes, and representatives of both sides criticized the action. It was not immediately clear if the Monday meeting occurred before or after that announcement.
More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s seven-month-old assault on the Gaza Strip, say health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave. The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 253 others, of whom well over 100 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
It was unclear what the delegation of Trump allies discussed with the Israelis. The person said the group was not acting at the former president’s request and had no message to deliver to Israeli officials. But all serve as informal advisers to Trump, and the former president will likely receive a readout of the meetings, the person added.
TRUMP’S VIEWS
Trump has occasionally criticized Israel over its operation in Gaza, and he has faulted Netanyahu for failing to prevent the Oct. 7 attack. But Trump, the Republican candidate for president, consistently portrays himself as a more reliable ally to Israel than Democratic President Joe Biden, his rival in the Nov. 5 election.
The White House declined comment when asked about the meeting. The Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During Trump’s 2017-2021 White House term, the U.S. moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a long-held conservative goal that delighted Israelis and infuriated Palestinians.
Rakolta, the former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, played a major role in the Abraham Accords, agreements signed during the Trump years, which normalized bilateral relations between Israel and both Bahrain and the UAE.
O’Brien has emerged as one of Trump’s top foreign policy advisers, and he will likely play a significant role in a second Trump term should he return to office, according to several people with knowledge of their relationship.
Foreign officials have regularly talked with Trump or his advisers in recent months to get a better sense of his likely policies should he return to the White House.
Foreign leaders on official visits typically meet with opposition leaders. British Foreign Minister David Cameron met Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in April, where they discussed the war in Ukraine and the future of NATO.
Hard-right Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met Trump at Mar-a-Lago in March. Last month, the former president received Polish President Andrzej Duda at Trump Tower in New York.
The 1799 Logan Act permits Americans outside the government to meet foreign officials but it also limits their ability to negotiate U.S. disputes with foreign governments.
On Sunday, Netanyahu met with Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan to discuss the war. The White House said Sullivan proposed measures to ensure more aid was able to flow into the Palestinian enclave.
The Biden administration, while initially steadfast in its support, has expressed misgivings with elements of Israel’s war strategy in recent months. This month Biden paused shipments of thousands of bombs to Israel in response to Israel’s decision to expand its assault on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.
That pause prompted Trump to accuse Biden of abandoning an ally.
During the Trump delegation’s visit to Israel, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash. That event could set off a succession battle in Iran, a geopolitical foe of Israel and the U.S. It was unclear if the Trump advisers discussed Raisi’s death with Israeli officials.
(Reuters) -Private equity firm Insight Partners is on the brink of closing a new $10 billion-plus fund, roughly half the amount originally targeted, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing five people with knowledge of its plans.
Insight will not formally close its 13th fund until early next year, the report said, adding that the final figure may be closer to $12 billion.
Insight Partners declined to comment on the report.
The report said Insight is using a private equity-style structure to sell more than $1 billion worth of stakes in start-ups and to free up cash to return to investors.
One of the start-ups is Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz, which had called off a $23 billion deal with Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:) in July, the report said.
New York-based Insight raised $20 billion for its 12th flagship fund in 2022, aiming to ramp up investments in software and technology companies.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would inflict a “heavy price” on the Iran-aligned Houthis who control northern Yemen, after they reached central Israel with a missile on Sunday for the first time.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group struck with a new hypersonic ballistic missile that travelled 2,040 km (1270 miles) in just 11 1/2 minutes.
After initially saying the missile had fallen in an open area, Israel’s military later said it had probably fragmented in the air, and that pieces of interceptors had landed in fields and near a railway station. Nobody was reported hurt.
Air raid sirens had sounded in Tel Aviv and across central Israel moments before the impact at around 6:35 a.m. local time (0335 GMT), sending residents running for shelter. Loud booms were heard.
Reuters saw smoke billowing in an open field in central Israel.
At a weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the Houthis should have known that Israel would exact a “heavy price” for attacks on Israel.
“Whoever needs a reminder of that is invited to visit the Hodeida port,” Netanyahu said, referring to an Israeli retaliatory air strike against Yemen in July for a Houthi drone that hit Tel Aviv.
The Houthis have fired missiles and drones at Israel repeatedly in what they say is solidarity with the Palestinians, since the Gaza war began with a Hamas attack on Israel in October.
The drone that hit Tel Aviv for the first time in July killed a man and wounded four people. Israeli air strikes in response on Houthi military targets near the port of Hodeidah killed six and wounded 80.
Previously, Houthi missiles have not penetrated deep into Israeli air space, with the only one reported to have hit Israeli territory falling in an open area near the Red Sea port of Eilat in March.
Israel should expect more strikes in the future “as we approach the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 operation, including responding to its aggression on the city of Hodeidah,” Sarea said.
The deputy head of the Houthi’s media office, Nasruddin Amer, said in a post on X on Sunday that the missile had reached Israel after “20 missiles failed to intercept” it, describing it as the “beginning”.
The Israeli military also said that 40 projectiles were fired towards Israel from Lebanon on Sunday and were either intercepted or landed in open areas.
“No injuries were reported,” the military said.
PARIS (Reuters) – Eight people have died trying to cross the Channel from France to England, French authorities said on Sunday, confirming earlier media reports.
This latest incident follows the deaths of 12 people earlier this month when their boat capsized in the Channel on its way to Britain and highlights the pressure on the British and French governments to find ways to tackle the boat crossings.
Jacques Billant, the Prefect of the Pas-de-Calais region, said that rescue crews were alerted that a boat with 59 people onboard was in difficulty in waters off the coast of Ambleteuse in the Pas-de-Calais area.
“A new drama took place around one in the morning and we deplore the death of eight people,” he told a news conference, adding that the other 51 onboard were now in the care of rescue and medical crews.
The dead were men from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Egypt, Iran and Afghanistan, he added.
The Channel is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and currents are strong, which makes crossing on small boats dangerous.
The latest incident brings to 46 the number of people who have died trying to cross the Channel from France since the start of the year, Billant said.
On September 14 alone there were eight attempts to cross the Channel from France and some 200 migrants were rescued, he said.
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