Netanyahu calls Trump summit 'one of the best ever'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that his meeting with US President Donald Trump had gone very well.

In a video message recorded after the White House meeting and before he attended a memorial service for Sen. Lindsey Graham, Netanyahu said, "I just finished a great meeting with President Donald. Today's meeting was one of the best meetings we've ever had."

Netanyahu said the talks — the first face-to-face contact between the two leaders since the outbreak of war with Iran — were marked by full cooperation and mutual support. He said the two sides "reached a common understanding on many issues, including the shared goal of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons." He added that it was "one of the best conversations I've had with President Trump" and described it as "an opportunity to exchange views and coordinate on matters critical to Israel's security and future."

Tzipi Hotovely, Israel's director of national public diplomacy, who accompanied Netanyahu on the US visit, said the summit included no mention of Pickaxe Mountain, the covert Iranian nuclear facility Trump had previously cited as a potential strike target.

Hotovely dismissed reports that Israel had brought new intelligence to the meeting. "The notion that we brought some kind of information to this meeting is fake news," she said. "We cooperate with US intelligence through our own channels. We didn't need a summit to pass along information."

Before the meeting, Trump had signaled his irritation in a Fox News interview, saying he did not need "Bibi" — his nickname for Netanyahu — to brief him on Pickaxe Mountain.

Hotovely also recounted a notable exchange during the summit: when Netanyahu referred to the late Sen. Graham as Israel's "greatest friend," Trump interjected to say, "Israel's greatest friend is me. Lindsey was number two."

Hotovely added that Trump did not press Israel to accelerate Gaza reconstruction or withdraw its forces from Syria and Lebanon. The possibility of Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords was raised during the meeting, while Jewish settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank was not discussed.

Trump and Netanyahu launched a war against Iran on Feb. 28, with the stated goal of regime change, and the two countries have touted their joint operations. The two leaders have, however, clashed repeatedly during negotiations over ending the war with Iran. Tensions between them flared particularly after Iran made a Lebanon truce a condition for ending the war, with Israel showing little willingness to comply.