Robert O’Brien, one of former President Donald J. Trump’s closest foreign policy advisers, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday ), who was part of a delegation of former Trump officials that visited several Israeli leaders.
O’Brien, who served as Trump’s national security adviser and is expected to play a prominent role in Trump’s second administration, was also in attendance, along with two other former Trump officials, former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, John Rakolta, and former ambassador to Switzerland, Ed McMullen. The delegation was introduced by Marshall Wittman, a spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group whose affiliate, the American Israel Educational Foundation, funded and organized the trip.
O’Brien said in a brief phone interview that he had wanted to visit Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks to express “solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people.”
O’Brien said Trump was aware of his trip to Israel, but said the former president did not ask him to go or direct him to say anything to Netanyahu. He said he was acting as a “private citizen” and added that he did express his view to Mr Netanyahu that a Hamas terror attack would be a threat if Mr Trump remained president. will not happen.
Asked if Netanyahu also expressed those sentiments about Trump, O’Brien said: “He’s a supporter who understands that he needs to have a good relationship with the Biden administration. But that’s how I feel.”
Former Trump administration officials and Netanyahu met on Monday, shortly after ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan in The Hague sought to indict Netanyahu, his defense minister and three others on charges of crimes against humanity. Arrest warrants issued for Hamas leaders.
O’Brien said he told Netanyahu that Khan’s decision was a “disgrace,” reminding the Israeli leader that it was imposed by the Trump administration. sanctions ICC 2020.
“I have spent my entire career as an international lawyer and I am disgusted by this prosecutor,” Mr O’Brien said. “If he is really worried about genocide, he should focus on the Chinese Communist Party and the Uyghurs,” he added, referring to the Chinese Communist Party’s crackdown on Muslims in the far western region. Xinjiang.
O’Brien and other former Trump officials met with several other Israeli policymakers, including Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Benny Gantz, a centrist member of Israel’s wartime cabinet who has become increasingly at odds with Netanyahu.
The delegation also visited two sites of the October 7 Hamas terror attacks: Kibbutz Nir Oz and a field in southern Israel near the Gaza border, where young Israelis were murdered while dancing at a music festival.
Wittman, a spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, said the visit had been planned months ago and that the organization has arranged and funded visits to Israel for former officials from both Democratic and Republican administrations.
