Netanyahu meets Trump as both leaders face election deadlines

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the White House on Tuesday for a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. Both leaders are under pressure at home as they face upcoming elections. Netanyahu's political future depends on Israel's legislative elections on October 27. He has sought this meeting for weeks, hoping for a photo with Trump to boost his campaign. Tensions had risen between the two over Israel's offensive in Lebanon, which disrupted a U.S.-Iran understanding. Trump faces his own deadline: the U.S. midterm elections on November 3. These elections could end the Republican Party's control of Congress. Trump is urgently seeking peace with Iran to lower gasoline prices and justify the war's costs, including $95 billion in extra military spending, 18 U.S. soldiers killed, and global oil trade disruptions caused by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, Trump said of Iran: "We have few differences. We are quite close." He added: "Iran has taken a hard hit in the last 14 days and has asked us very nicely: 'Please stop. Let's meet.' We'll see what happens if we don't reach a deal." When asked what Netanyahu wants from Iran negotiations, Trump replied: "Bibi has been great. We work very well together. Iran is at 8% of what they were four months ago." Another point of division is Trump's plan to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, a NATO ally but an enemy of Israel. Trump defended the sale: "Turkey has been a great ally to me. No one tells me what to sell." **Trump shields Netanyahu from ICC arrest warrant** The meeting comes after Trump criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for saying he would arrest Netanyahu if he visited the city during the UN General Assembly in September. Netanyahu faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the genocide in Gaza between October 2023 and May 2024. In a video posted on social media, Mamdani called Netanyahu "a war criminal, the architect of a horrendous genocide against the Palestinian people." He said the city had no legal authority to execute the ICC warrant but urged the federal government to do so. Trump sided with Netanyahu: "Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, under any circumstances, while he is in the U.S. He is fighting the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protesters and has spent the last 47 years killing U.S. soldiers."