Donald Trump gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the warm welcome he was hoping for at Mar-a-Lago on Friday after the Israeli got a thinly veiled rebuke from presidential candidate Kamala Harris in Washington.

Trump greeted Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, at the top step of the gilded foyer at his Florida estate and criticized Harris’ remarks made during her meeting Netanyahu on Thursday — in which she cited the grave humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip — as not “very nice pertaining to Israel.”

It was as much as Netanyahu could have hoped for in making the trek to Florida after he gave a speech to Congress on Wednesday that was criticized by Democrats. The next day he met with President Joe Biden, and then had a separate meeting with Harris, who said she would not “be silent” about humanitarian suffering in Gaza.

“No president has done what I’ve done for Israel, and we’ve always had a very good relationship,” Trump said, sitting at a table across from Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago. He didn’t mention the rift that opened up between the two men in 2020 after Netanyahu congratulated Biden on his election victory.

Netanyahu traveled to Mar-a-Lago looking to patch things up with the once and possibly future president and rally Republican support for his plan to press ahead with the war against Hamas. He and his coalition have made little secret of their preference for Trump to win in November.

Netanyahu posted on social media a photo standing next to the former president and showing off a blue baseball cap with the phrase “Total Victory” on it, a reference to his government’s tough line against Hamas, which the US has designated a terrorist group. Netanyahu made no such display in his White House meetings, though he used the phrase in his address to Congress.

Trump inserted himself directly into the middle of complicated regional politics. He “pledged that when he returns to the White House, he will make every effort to bring Peace to the Middle East,” according to a statement from the campaign. Earlier on Friday, he posted on social media a letter he received from Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and a frequent target of Netanyahu’s scorn.

Trump has said Israel should be allowed to “finish the job” against Hamas, but he told Fox News in an interview “they are getting decimated with this publicity.”

That equivocal statement from Trump, along with the less-than-wholehearted backing Netanyahu got from Democrats this week, highlighted how the trip to the US risked isolating the Israeli leader even more. He scheduled the visit in what seemed like a different era — before the assassination attempt against Trump and Biden’s decision to cede to the Democratic nomination and endorse Harris.

U.S. leaders are now laser-focused on the election and political pressure around the war is mounting. Harris has been more willing to speak critically about Israel’s conduct than Biden.

After her meeting with Netanyahu on Thursday, Harris said she had “made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation” in Gaza. “It is time for this war to end,” she said.

Netanyahu and top aides fear that Harris’ comments about Palestinian suffering could drive Hamas to harden the terms of a hostage and cease-fire deal, according to a senior Israeli official who asked not to be identified discussing private conversations. Israel hopes her statement after meeting Netanyahu on Thursday won’t be interpreted by Hamas as evidence of a gap that could make a deal more remote.

After the meeting, far-right Israeli cabinet minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, who endorsed Trump for the presidency earlier this week, wrote on X: “There will be no truce, Madam Candidate.”

With momentum building behind her bid to challenge Trump for the presidency, the meeting with Netanyahu was a chance for Harris to reassure pro-Israel voters — and she did pledge firm U.S. support for Israel’s security — while also presenting her with an opportunity to send a message to progressive voters upset about rising civilian casualties.

While the formal White House statement about her meeting with Netanyahu reflected official language on the administration’s Middle East policy, Harris’ sharper tone and more poignant imagery about the suffering in Gaza reflected what seemed to be part of an ongoing attempt to distinguish her stance on the Israel-Hamas war from Biden’s.

“She’s positioning, she’s changing the tone, she’s saying something different in tone but not in substance from what Biden says,” said said Brian Katulis, a former U.S. official now at the Middle East Institute. “There’s a tone difference there, but the policy’s not that different.”

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(With assistance from Peter Martin, Stephanie Lai and Ethan Bronner.)

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