Netanyahu wanted Trump meeting during UN visit, but none materialized: reports

‘Israeli’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s unusually brief trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly has highlighted strains in US-‘Israeli’ relations, as no meeting with President Donald Trump materialized despite efforts by his aides to arrange one, according to reports by the Reuters and Hebrew media.

Netanyahu arrived in the United States on Thursday for a whirlwind visit expected to last less than eight hours before returning to ‘Israel’ the same evening ahead of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

He is scheduled to address the General Assembly in the afternoon and hold meetings with a limited group of leaders, primarily from Latin America and other nations, including the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Panama and Ethiopia, Colombia’s vice president, and the prime ministers of Greece, Slovenia and Papua New Guinea.

His office noted that many world leaders requested meetings, but a tight schedule limited what could be accommodated.

A meeting with Trump, which Netanyahu’s aides had sought to arrange, is not on the schedule.

Senior US officials reportedly indicated that Netanyahu was not among the leaders Trump planned to meet on the sidelines of the assembly, and their stays in New York do not overlap—Trump addressed the UN earlier in the week and shifted focus to a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington.

Reports also indicated the US president appeared unwilling to make a meeting happen.

This stands in sharp contrast to previous visits.

Trump has met Netanyahu eight times during his second term, with their most recent encounter in July.

Last year’s UN-related trip included a longer stay and a presidential meeting.

Former ‘Israeli’ ambassador to Washington Michael Oren called the absence notable: “I don’t recall a time when the prime minister came to the United States and didn’t meet with the president... So I’m sure that he was disappointed by that.”

He added that Netanyahu’s UN address functions as “a campaign speech” ahead of ‘Israel’s’ October 27 election, and it “would be much better if that campaign speech were accompanied by a meeting with the president, or another world leader, or at least the secretary of state, but apparently it’s not.”

The abbreviated itinerary and lack of high-level US engagement reflect broader tensions.
The two leaders jointly launched a war against Iran earlier in 2026, but later diverged as Trump pursued efforts to wind down the conflict while key objectives remained unmet.

Netanyahu’s office has framed the short visit around defending ‘Israel’ from the UN podium against what he described as “terrible lies,” amid international criticism over the Gaza war, West Bank policies and an ICC arrest warrant.