REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE Donald Trump gave a warm greeting to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife today as the two met for talks in Florida.

Trump kissed Sara Netanyahu on both cheeks, then clasped hands with the long-serving prime minister before posing for a photo with the two while giving a thumbs up sign, a video clip posted on social media by the former president showed.

Netanyahu posted a photo online showing him holding a hat that said “TOTAL VICTORY” – which he has vowed to achieve against Hamas in Gaza – as he stood next to Trump at the Republican’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

This is despite Netanyahu’s own military spokesman saying destroying Hamas is not possible and consistent protests at home over Israel’s war strategy.

The tone was in notable contrast to Netanyahu’s meeting with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, the previous day, in which she told him to seal a Gaza peace deal and insisted that she would not be “silent” on the suffering in the Palestinian enclave.

“What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating. The images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time,” Harris told reporters.

Gaza has been devastated by more than nine months of Israeli siege, bombardment and invasion.

More than 39,175 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault on the territory, according to data provided by the health ministry of Gaza.

Netanyahu had a notably warmer relationship with Trump than with current President Joe Biden, and has clashed with the Democrat’s administration on issues including civilian casualties in Gaza and the speed of US weapons deliveries to Israel. 

Despite those clashes, US support for Israel has remained “ironclad”, as Biden put it in the early stages of the war. 

“We have incompetent people running our country,” Trump said while sitting across from Netanyahu, describing Harris as worse than Joe Biden.

“If we win, it’ll be very simple. It’s all gonna work out, and very quickly,” Trump said. “If we don’t, you could end up with major wars in the Middle East and maybe a third world war.”

Trump’s campaign later released a statement on the meeting, saying he “pledged that when he returns to the White House, he will make every effort to bring peace to the Middle East and combat anti-Semitism from spreading throughout college campuses across the United States.”

Netanyahu addressed a joint meeting of the US Congress this week, praising actions Trump took while president.

“I… want to thank President Trump for all the things he did for Israel. From recognising Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights to confronting Iran’s aggression to recognising Jerusalem as our capital and moving the American embassy there,” Netanyahu said.

American journalist and prominent member of Jewish Voice for Peace, Katie Halper, told The Journal that the standing ovation that greeted Netanyahu in Congress and the mass arrests of protesters in Washington was “disturbing”.

“It was disturbing, but sadly, not surprising, that people protesting a genocide were arrested, while someone orchestrating it was feted and given standing ovations.”

With reporting from AFP