{"id":20739,"date":"2026-07-29T08:12:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T03:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=20739"},"modified":"2026-07-29T08:12:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T03:12:19","slug":"a-disaster-for-america-first-trump-allies-fear-netanyahu-meeting-will-pull-us-deeper-into-war-with-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=20739","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A disaster for America First\u2019: Trump allies fear Netanyahu meeting will pull US deeper into war with Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.politico.com\/be\/fe\/6bded8a24e51841c1df176ab4a34\/ap26208782971465.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during his last in-person meeting at the White House, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/07\/us\/politics\/trump-iran-war.html\" target=\"_blank\">reportedly sold<\/a> President Donald Trump on starting a war with Iran.<\/p>\n<p>Now, the GOP\u2019s America First wing fears he\u2019s about to pitch the president on ramping up attacks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think all of President Trump\u2019s most ardent non-\u2018Israel First\u2019 supporters are furious,\u201d said former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. \u201cNetanyahu has had twice as many visits to the White House in 18 months as Churchill had in all of World War II \u2014 with every one of them a disaster for America First.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The two men are set to meet Tuesday morning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/07\/27\/netanyahu-white-house-visit-trump-iran-war-01012362\" target=\"_blank\">for the first time since<\/a> the two countries attacked Iran in February, with Netanyahu in Washington to attend the funeral of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham. The meeting comes at a moment of tension between the two allies: While Trump has long defended Israel, he has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/06\/03\/trump-netanyahu-iran-war-00948154\" target=\"_blank\">grown increasingly willing to publicly criticize Netanyahu<\/a> for being too aggressive with Lebanon.<\/p>\n<p>It also arrives at a pivotal moment in a war that has dragged on for five months, with the U.S. teetering between attempts at peace and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/trump-notifies-congress-of-new-war-against-iran-00995170\" target=\"_blank\">a more aggressive phase of war<\/a>. U.S. and Iran suspended nearly two weeks of tit-for-tat strikes over the weekend amid hopes for a new ceasefire deal, but Trump continues to threaten \u201cmassive attacks\u201d on the country after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/donald-trump-says-iran-ceasefire-is-over\/\" target=\"_blank\">an earlier peace agreement fell apart this month<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Many of the president\u2019s anti-interventionist allies had hoped the latest ceasefire attempt would lead to a permanent end to the conflict. Instead, they\u2019re grappling with the possibility that Netanyahu, who is visiting the U.S. for the seventh time since Trump took office last year, may instead push the president into a new, more durable phase of war that could leave the U.S. embroiled in conflict in the Middle East for months, if not years.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting comes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/07\/22\/poll-maga-souring-iran-war-costs-trump-01006976\" target=\"_blank\">as new polling shows<\/a> that a growing share of the president\u2019s base no longer believes the war is worth its economic costs. And Republicans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/07\/21\/this-is-what-a-quagmire-looks-like-trump-enters-bleak-new-phase-with-iran-01005354\" target=\"_blank\">are increasingly resigned to the fact<\/a> that the war will likely still be hanging over voters in some form when they head to the polls in November.<\/p>\n<p>Curt Mills, executive director of the American Conservative magazine, described the meeting as \u201cDEFCON 1.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNetanyahu is going to argue for the essential logic of escalation, which \u2014 if Trump is not willing to give the [memorandum of understanding] a chance and if Trump is not willing to walk away from the conflict entirely without a resolution \u2014 then I think we probably will escalate, and that\u2019s what we\u2019ve been seeing these last couple of weeks,\u201d Mills said.<\/p>\n<p>Trump allies concede that Netanyahu wouldn\u2019t be doing his job if he didn\u2019t try to persuade the president on further military action that would guarantee an end to Iran\u2019s nuclear capabilities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m interested in seeing how forward-leaning Netanyahu is about wanting a U.S. engagement in that way. I mean, is that something he wants to do privately? Is that something he\u2019s going to say publicly?\u201d said Alex Gray, who served as National Security Council chief of staff during Trump&#8217;s first term. \u201cNetanyahu is going to push his agenda, which I don\u2019t think in this instance necessarily is compatible with our interests, but I have no concern that Donald Trump is going to be manipulated by any leader into doing something that\u2019s not compatible with America\u2019s interest first.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A White House official, granted anonymity to preview the meeting, said the two leaders will discuss the Iran conflict, the trilateral agreement between the U.S., Israel and Lebanon as well as expanding the Abraham Accords, the agreements establishing diplomatic normalization between Israel and a handful of Arab countries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll of President Trump\u2019s decisions are guided by what is best for the American people and our national security,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n<p>Netanyahu has not been to the White House since the launch of the war, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/07\/27\/netanyahu-white-house-visit-trump-iran-war-01012362\" target=\"_blank\">despite months of efforts<\/a> to secure another invitation. Until Monday, the White House had not publicly confirmed the meeting, details of which were only just finalized as officials prepared for Graham\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n<p>Strikes between the U.S. and Iran remain paused, though Trump on Monday threatened that the U.S. would \u201cgo back to doing what we were doing&#8221; if the latest attempt at diplomacy fails. Netanyahu could ultimately shoulder the burden of blame if the war continues to drag on \u2014 potentially deepening strains between the two allies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNetanyahu is kind of a problem-maker at the moment, right? This war has consumed the last five and a half months or so. There\u2019s not a clear solution to it,\u201d said a former official, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the dynamics of the meeting. \u201cTrump probably, publicly or not, blames Netanyahu partially or associates him with a thing going badly. It&#8217;s not like it has to be his fault. It&#8217;s that he&#8217;s associated with it. And the president\u2019s pissed off about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trump, who faces increasing pressure at home to bring the war to an end ahead of November\u2019s midterms, has grown increasingly vocal in his frustration with Netanyahu. At the G7 summit last month, he criticized Israel\u2019s continued military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon as he sought to promote a fragile peace deal. And his vice president, JD Vance, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/vance-israel-alienating-jewish-gop-donors-00994154\" target=\"_blank\">has also sharpened his attacks against Israel<\/a>, accusing Netanyahu\u2019s government of undermining U.S-Iran negotiations in an effort to drag out the war.<\/p>\n<p>Proponents of the U.S.-Israel relationship are hoping that the Tuesday meeting helps mend fences between the two leaders as they continue to pursue a shared goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe one constant and the one area in which there is zero daylight between the prime minister and the president is that under no circumstances will Iran ever have a nuclear weapon,\u201d said Matt Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition. \u201cAnd to his credit, despite some of the political costs associated with this, President Trump has remained absolutely resolute in this, and he could very easily do what previous presidents have always done, and just kick the can down the road and make it somebody else&#8217;s problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) added that the meeting is &#8220;better than having them not talking to one another.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Israeli prime minister, who faces reelection in October, needs Tuesday\u2019s meeting to understand Trump\u2019s next steps \u2014 whether he intends to return to the memorandum of understanding or move toward further escalation, said Elliott Abrams, the U.S. special representative for Iran in Trump\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n<p>But Netanyau, who has built much of his political identity around confronting Iran\u2019s security threat, also enters Tuesday\u2019s meeting from a position of significant political risk as the two leaders are poised to broach several difficult subjects, including Lebanon, Syria and Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe stakes are higher for Netanyahu both because Trump, not he, is the decision-maker here,\u201d Abrams said. \u201cAnd because his job and not Trump\u2019s is on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>Alex Gangitano, Riley Rogerson and Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during his last in-person meeting at the White House, reportedly sold President Donald Trump on starting a war with Iran. Now, the GOP\u2019s America First wing fears he\u2019s about to pitch the president on ramping up attacks. \u201cI think all of President Trump\u2019s most ardent non-\u2018Israel First\u2019 supporters are furious,\u201d&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static.politico.com\/be\/fe\/6bded8a24e51841c1df176ab4a34\/ap26208782971465.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}