The meeting with no cameras in the US: Yaakov Katz on whether Israel still has a seat at the table

Yaakov Katz argues that Netanyahu's eighth meeting with Trump, which lacked cameras and a one-on-one, signals Israel's diminished influence. Katz notes that Lebanon and Iraq received warmer welcomes, and a coalition against Iran excludes Israel. He questions the 'victory for generations' claim after renewed conflict.

On this week's episode of the Jerusalem Post's Deep Dive podcast, host Jacob Laznik asks Yaakov Katz, Senior Fellow at JPPI and former editor-in-chief of the Post, about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's eighth meeting with US President Donald Trump. Katz describes the meeting as notably different: no welcome at the South Portico, no embrace for photographers, no press in the room, and no one-on-one. Both governments described the meeting as 'productive and positive,' but Katz argues that the need to stress positivity indicates Israeli officials were braced for worse. Netanyahu avoided the 'Zelensky treatment' but got nothing he came for. Katz contrasts this with Lebanon's president receiving a South Portico welcome and Iraq's prime minister getting an Oval Office meeting with cameras. He notes a coalition forming against Iran that Israel has not been invited to join, calling the exclusion deliberate. Laznik offers the counterargument that America is hitting Israel's enemies, but Katz calls that short-term thinking. Katz also discusses leaked footage of Senator Lindsey Graham criticizing Witkoff and Kushner as negotiators, and a New Yorker piece where former Biden officials say they were played. Katz questions Netanyahu's claim that the 12 Day War was a 'victory for generations,' asking what changed eight months later that required doing it again.