US President Donald Trump 'caught off guard' by Israeli strikes on Syria and Gaza church
Three people were killed and 14 injured in an Israeli strike on the Holy Family Church in Gaza city last week. Parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli was among those wounded. The attack sparked international condemnation, including from Mr Trump who called Mr Netanyahu to voice his displeasure.
Mr Trump also appears to have been surprised by Israeli strikes on government buildings in the Syrian capital last week, at a time when his administration is working to improve ties with the new authorities there.
The US President "was caught off guard by the bombing in Syria and also the bombing of a Catholic church in Gaza," Ms Leavitt told journalists.
"In both accounts, the President quickly called the Prime Minister to rectify those situations," she said.
The US is Israel's main ally and Mr Netanyahu has visited the White House three times since Mr Trump returned to power in January. "The President enjoys a good working relationship with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, and stays in, you know, frequent communication with him," Ms Leavitt said.
Mr Netanyahu called Pope Leo to express regret over the strike on the Catholic church in Gaza, blaming a "stray missile".
US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack announced a ceasefire between Israel and Syria on Saturday after days of conflict sparked by sectarian clashes in Sweida. Israel launched a series of attacks against Syria, including striking the Ministry of Defence and the presidential palace, in what it claimed was an effort to protect the Druze community. But diplomats and analysts said its goal is to weaken the new Syrian authorities.
Israel remains sceptical of the new Hayat Tahrir Al Sham leadership in Damascus. But Mr Trump has met Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara, announced the lifting of sanctions on Syria and revoked the US's foreign terrorist organisation designation of HTS, a former Al Qaeda affiliate.
While Israel and the US are strong allies, the personal relationship between the two leaders has been rocky throughout the years. But Mr Trump appeared to be closer than ever to Mr Netanyahu when he decided to join Israel's bombing campaign of Iran.
During his last visit to the White House earlier this month, Mr Netanyahu also presented Mr Trump with a copy of a letter he wrote to the Nobel committee, nominating the US President for the Peace Prize.
But Mr Netanyahu departed without a ceasefire deal in Gaza being announced, as Mr Trump had hoped and hinted at before the visit.
'The President's message on this conflict we've seen in the Middle East taking place for far too long, that has become quite brutal, especially in recent days, you've seen reports of more people dying. I think the president never likes to see that. He wants the killing to end,' Ms Leavitt said.
She highlighted the administration's efforts to enable more aid deliveries to Gaza, despite foreign ministers of 25 western nations on Monday condemning Israel for "drip feeding" aid into the war-ravaged enclave where cases of starvation are on the rise.
'The President is the reason that aid is even being distributed in Gaza at all,' Ms Leavitt said. 'He wants to see this done in a peaceful manner, where more lives are not being lost.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Middle East Eye
an hour ago
- Middle East Eye
Starmer's 'all guns, no butter' policy will cost him dearly
The recent Nato summit demanded that member states agree to reach a target of five percent of GDP on defence spending over the next decade. Nato secretary general Mark Rutte was beside himself with joy. This will make Nato 'more lethal', he vowed. Rutte was in no doubt as to why Nato had successfully agreed on this historic high in arms spending: US President Donald Trump, or 'daddy', as Rutte called him. In embarrassingly fulsome messages to Trump, made public by the US president, Rutte put to shame the most obsequious courtier in an 18th-century absolute monarchy, as he verbally prostrated himself at the feet of the ruler of the empire. In all fairness to Rutte, he was correctly summarising the view of European governments. Much as some claim to dislike Trump, they have fallen in line with his demands for increased arms expenditures in double-quick time. All but Spain endorsed the five-percent defence spending target, despite the fact that the US spends only 3.5 percent of GDP on arms. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Trump was triumphant, using the Nato news conference to rub the noses of European leaders in the latest proof that the US is the organisation's top dog. Never has founding secretary general Lord Ismay's aphorism - that Nato exists to keep 'the Soviet Union [read Russians] out, the Americans in, and the Germans [read Europeans] down' - been more true. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is an unqualified enthusiast for rearmament. The most clearly defining policy of his prime ministership so far, where so much else is shrouded in serial U-turns, is a commitment to US-led rearmament. The picture of Starmer at the recent G7 summit bowing at Trump's knee to pick up papers that the president had dropped went viral, because it accurately captured the political relationship between the two governments. Credibility gap Starmer, of course, signed up to the five percent of GDP rearmament target and coupled it with a commitment to buy a dozen American F35A fighters capable of carrying a nuclear payload, marking the first time the UK will have the capacity to deliver airborne nukes since the Cold War. The cost of this programme alone will be £15bn. More broadly, the newly publicised Strategic Defence Review underpins Starmer's over-inflated rhetoric about the UK needing to prepare to fight on the 'home front' in the case of a full land invasion of the UK. Such a project, unsuccessfully contemplated by Napoleon and Hitler, was last accomplished in 1066. There is no plausible modern candidate for this project. Russia, with an economy the size of Spain's and a military depleted by three years of unsuccessful war in Ukraine, is certainly not the 21st-century equivalent of either Napoleon or Hitler when their empires spanned the continent. Indeed, having failed to reach Kyiv, it is improbable to the point of absurdity to think that Russian troops might soon be on the Normandy beaches. The period of high Starmerism is past. Now the pendulum is swinging in the other direction, back towards traditional centrist Labourism The UK defence establishment and government are well aware that this huge credibility gap exists in the minds of British voters. The Strategic Defence Review spends an unusual amount of time worrying about how rearmament can be sold to the population. It calls for a 'national endeavour', first mooted by the previous Tory government, in which a wide variety of propaganda and 'educational' weapons will be fired at hapless citizens in order to reduce them to compliance with the warmongers' project. And there is no Starmer speech that does not echo the Strategic Defence Review's insistence that there will be a 'defence dividend', in the Orwellian language now common in government circles, that will result in more jobs. So far, the 'national endeavour' project is failing spectacularly. The purchase of F35A jets is a case in point. It's a slap in the face for Unite the Union general secretary Sharon Graham, who campaigned relentlessly for a renewal of the Eurofighter Typhoon fleet in the name of British jobs. In a sharp lesson in the UK's defence subservience to the US arms industry, Starmer ignored her and opted instead to flatter Trump with a purchase of American planes manufactured by Lockheed Martin, with only 15 percent of UK-made components. Leadership in danger But even when money spent by the UK government isn't pouring directly into the bank accounts of US defence contractors, it will never produce the same number of jobs as the same amount of money spent on civilian industry. Defence spending is simply a massively inefficient way of generating jobs. Beyond these specific arguments is the gigantic fact that Starmer is advocating huge increases in arms expenditures, while hacking away at the already emaciated welfare budget. The assault on welfare, the defining project of the first year of the Labour administration, has already produced a record-breaking back bench rebellion. This in turn produced yet another screeching U-turn from Starmer. Accompanying the U-turn is the blame game. At the moment, No. 10 guru Morgan McSweeney and 'iron chancellor' Rachel Reeves are the ones catching it in the neck. Starmer is running out of road Read More » As tens of thousands of people at the recent Glastonbury Festival cursed Starmer's name, Starmer himself has been busy apologising for his own mistakes to any journalist who will listen. A sure sign that Starmer's leadership is endangered was Health Secretary Wes Streeting's recent TV interview, in which he refuted criticism of the Glastonbury crowd by saying that Israel should get its 'own house in order'. Starmer is now a couple of by-election losses away from a leadership challenge. Perhaps he can make it to the May 2026 council elections if the fates spare sitting MPs and no by-election takes place. But whatever the timing proves to be, the period of high Starmerism is past. Now the pendulum is swinging in the other direction, back towards traditional centrist Labourism. A number of important consequences follow. Firstly, the time for Jeremy Corbyn to launch a new leftist party is now. Secondly, no new party can afford to be merely an electoral project: it must have the closest possible relations with Palestine and antiwar movements whose activists will be its core constituency. Thirdly, the antiwar movement will be central to ongoing opposition to the government. Reeves or her successor will return to the task of extracting the money for rearmament from working people, one way or another. The defence of working-class living standards at home will be intimately bound to opposition to the preparation for war abroad. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Al Etihad
2 hours ago
- Al Etihad
Trump says US will sell 'so much' beef to Australia
25 July 2025 10:15 WASHINGTON/CANBERRA (REUTERS)The United States will sell "so much" beef to Australia, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday after Canberra relaxed import restrictions, adding that other countries that refused US beef products were on on Wednesday said it would loosen biosecurity rules for US beef, something analysts predicted would not significantly increase US shipments because Australia is a major beef producer and exporter whose prices are much lower."We are going to sell so much to Australia because this is undeniable and irrefutable Proof that US Beef is the Safest and Best in the entire World," Trump said in a post on Truth Social."The other Countries that refuse our magnificent Beef are ON NOTICE," the post has attempted to renegotiate trade deals with numerous countries he says have taken advantage of the United States - a characterisation many economists dispute."For decades, Australia imposed unjustified barriers on US beef," US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement, calling Australia's decision a "major milestone in lowering trade barriers and securing market access for US farmers and ranchers."Australian officials say the relaxation of restrictions was not part of any trade negotiations but the result of a years-long assessment of US biosecurity has restricted US beef imports since 2003 due to concerns about bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease. Since 2019, it has allowed in meat from animals born, raised and slaughtered in the US but few suppliers were able to prove that their cattle had not been in Canada and Wednesday, Australia's agriculture ministry said US cattle traceability and control systems had improved enough that Australia could accept beef from cattle born in Canada or Mexico and slaughtered in the United decision has caused some concern in Australia, where biosecurity is seen as essential to prevent diseases and pests from ravaging the farm which imports more from the US than it exports, faces a 10% across-the-board US tariff from next month, as well 50% tariffs on steel and aluminium. Trump has also threatened to impose a 200% tariff on whether the change would help achieve a trade deal, Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell said: "I'm not too sure." "We haven't done this in order to entice the Americans into a trade agreement," he said. "We think that they should do that anyway."
Middle East Eye
8 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Netanyahu slams Macron recognition of State of Palestine
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed French President Emmanuel Macron for his decision on Thursday to recognise the State of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly in September. "We strongly condemn President Macron's decision to recognize a Palestinian state next to Tel Aviv in the wake of the October 7 massacre. Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became," Netanyahu said. "A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel — not to live in peace beside it. Let's be clear: the Palestinians do not seek a state alongside Israel; they seek a state instead of Israel."
