Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump sharply criticised his Democratic political rivals, and warned of dire consequences for the Middle East if he was not reelected, as he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida today.
The meeting capped a week in which Mr Netanyahu addressed the US Congress and held talks with President Joe Biden and presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, the vice president, who took the Israeli leader to task over the situation in Gaza in a meeting yesterday.
"We have incompetent people running our country," Mr Trump said while sitting across from Mr Netanyahu.
"If we win, it'll be very simple. It's all gonna work out, and very quickly," Mr Trump said. "If we don't, you could end up with major wars in the Middle East and maybe a third world war."
Mr Trump's campaign later released a statement on the meeting, saying he "pledged that when he returns to the White House, he will make every effort to bring peace to the Middle East and combat anti-Semitism from spreading throughout college campuses across the United States".
Mr Trump warmly greeted Mr Netanyahu and his wife Sara, kissing her on both cheeks and then clasping hands with the long-serving prime minister as they arrived at the Republican's Mar-a-Lago resort.
Mr Netanyahu posted a photo online showing him holding a hat that said "TOTAL VICTORY" - which he has vowed to achieve against Hamas in Gaza - as he stood next to Mr Trump.
The tone was in notable contrast to Mr Netanyahu's meeting with Ms Harris yesterday, in which the vice president told him to seal a Gaza peace deal and insisted that she would not be "silent" on the suffering in the Palestinian enclave.
"What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating. The images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time," Ms Harris told reporters.
"It is time for this war to end," Ms Harris said in a televised statement after the talks with Mr Netanyahu.
Today, Mr Trump described Ms Harris as a "radical left person" and said he thought "her remarks were disrespectful - they weren't very nice pertaining to Israel".
Gaza has been devastated by more than nine months of Israeli operations against Hamas, which launched a shock attack in October that resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
More than 39,175 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's retaliatory campaign, according to data provided by the health ministry of Hamas-run Gaza, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.
Mr Netanyahu had a notably warmer relationship with Mr Trump than with Mr Biden, and has clashed with the current president's administration on issues including civilian casualties in Gaza and the speed of US weapons deliveries to Israel.
In his address to Congress, the Israeli leader praised both Mr Biden and Mr Trump, but particularly lauded controversial measures taken by the former president during his term in office.
"I... want to thank President Trump for all the things he did for Israel. From recognising Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights to confronting Iran's aggression to recognizing Jerusalem as our capital and moving the American embassy there," Mr Netanyahu said.
Mr Biden met Mr Netanyahu yesterday and told him that he needed to close gaps to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and remove obstacles in the flow of aid, according to a readout of the meeting provided by the White House.
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US officials believe the parties are closer than ever before to an agreement for a six-week ceasefire in exchange for the release by Hamas of women, sick, elderly and wounded hostages.
The Gaza conflict has splintered the Democratic Party, and sparked months of protests at Mr Biden's events.
A decrease in support among Arab Americans could hurt Democratic chances in Michigan, one of a handful of states likely to decide the election.
In a nod to those concerns, Ms Harris urged Americans to help "encourage efforts to understand the complexity, the nuance and the history of the region".
"To everyone who has been calling for a ceasefire and to everyone who yearns for peace, I see you and I hear you," she said.
"Let's get the deal done so we can get a ceasefire to end the war," she added.
In an Oval Office address, Mr Biden cited a desire for unity in the Democratic Party as it seeks to defeat Mr Trump as a main reason he decided not to seek re-election but to instead support Ms Harris for the 2024 race.
Ms Harris maintains closer ties to Democratic progressives, some of whom have urged Mr Biden to attach conditions to US weapons shipments to Israel out of concern for high Palestinian civilian casualties in Gaza.
The US is a major arms supplier to Israel and has protected the country from critical United Nations votes.
Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu met together with the families of Americans held by Hamas, who expressed hope for a ceasefire including a release of hostages.
"We came today with a sense of urgency," Jonathan Dekel-Chen, whose son is a captive, said.
