Trump: Netanyahu and Israel are his close friends
The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon 29 January 2025

Extracts:
  • Biden and Netanyahu
It took a very long time – 28 days, to be exact – and people took notice

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki was even asked about the delayed call at a press conference 23 days in, saying,
Quote
President Biden was not intentionally snubbing the Israeli prime minister “It’s not an intentional dis”
Psaki said to reporters who were noting that Biden had already talked to “every other major ally in Europe and in Asia”

A huge deal was made of this in the media, with interpretations varying from,
  • Biden not wanting to give Netanyahu any possible boost before Israeli elections scheduled in March of that year
  • to lingering resentment toward the prime minister from the years when Biden was Barack Obama’s vice president
  • the icy relationship between the two administrations
  • and efforts, to distance Washington from Jerusalem, in the hopes that this would bring the US closer to the Arab states