This newsroom reported earlier today that the International Stabilization Force approved by Israel's security cabinet has a written mandate - point 15 of the 20-point plan - to 'train and provide support to vetted Palestinian police forces in Gaza,' and that two senior Gaza police commanders were killed in the 48 hours before the approval.
Tonight there is a second account of why the approval happened when it did.
Channel 12, relayed in the Times of Israel's liveblog, reports that Trump initially refused to meet Netanyahu and agreed only after Israel approved the ISF deployment. It further reports that Netanyahu pushed the measure through the security cabinet 'without batting an eye,' as a 'gesture to Trump' [1].
That is single-sourced to one Israeli broadcaster and relayed at second hand, and it should be read as exactly that. Netanyahu's office has not responded on the record, and this newsroom has not independently confirmed it.
What is not in dispute is the shape of the trip. Netanyahu left for Washington on Monday from Nevatim Air Force Base rather than Ben Gurion, with no advance notice and without Israel's diplomatic press pool, on the Wings of Zion; his office released a video statement only after the departure was confirmed [2]. Channel 12 attributed the military-base departure to a potential Iranian threat, and Sunday's cabinet meeting had already been moved to an undisclosed underground location [2]. He landed in Washington at 1:24 in the morning [2].
The meeting he bought, if the report is accurate, opened with a public rebuff. Hours before it, Trump dismissed Netanyahu's objections to selling F-35 fighters to Turkey: 'Nobody tells me what we should be selling.' He added that Turkey is 'not a big fan of Israel' but is 'great for me' [1].
