Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich praised the Trump administration on Thursday after he held a meeting with Steve Witkoff, the US envoy for the Middle East.
Witkoff has been pushing for full implementation of the Gaza ceasefire deal, an idea strongly opposed by Smotrich, who not only wants the genocidal war to be restarted but wants an escalation with the goal of the “gradual takeover of the entire Gaza Strip.”
Despite the two having seemingly opposing ideas, Smotrich appeared to be happy with how the meeting went.
“We discussed the issues at hand, the courageous relationship and close cooperation between Israel and the United States, a relationship that is now strengthening dramatically with President Trump,” Smotrich wrote on X after the meeting. “We discussed the great importance of the return of the hostages and the complete victory for the sake of strengthening the security of the State of Israel.”
Smotrich said they also discussed the “new, ‘outside the box’ thinking that the United States is promoting to enable the elimination of the forces of evil and the promotion of peace through strength in the Middle East and in general.”
Smotrich could be referring to President Trump’s calls to “clean out” Gaza of its Palestinian population and send them to Jordan and Egypt, an idea Trump has doubled down on despite strong opposition from the Arab countries. When Trump first made the comments, Smotrich said he would work to make the ethnic cleansing of Gaza a reality and claimed it was the only “solution that will bring peace and security to the residents of Israel.”
Concluding his post about meeting with Witkoff on Thursday, Smotrich said, “President Trump’s USA is leading a moral and just line, and we look forward to continued cooperation to advance our common goals, and we will work on them together.”
