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7/16/2025, 3:06:54 PM
>On 3 May 2017, Palestinian President Abbas visited the White House for the first time during the Trump administration.[48] According to Bob Woodward, citing as his source Rex Tillerson, Trump's early support for Israel wavered: he had begun to wonder whether Netanyahu might not be the major obstacle to a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. On his visit to Israel on 22 May 2017 Trump met Netanyahu and was shown by the latter tapes that appeared to show Mahmoud Abbas advocating the killing of children. Netanyahu then asked him, 'And that's the guy you want to help?'. Trump was outraged by what he saw. After their meeting ended, Rex Tillerson was called in and shown the same material, a 'crudely forged video', and told the president the clips looked like fabrications. Trump remained convinced they were authentic.[49] On the following day, at his meeting with Abbas in Bethlehem, Trump then lashed out at the Palestinian leader, calling him a liar and murderer. Woodward appears to suggest that this disinformation was behind Trump's decision to close the PLO office in Washington and cut off aid to the organization.[50][51][49] This occasion, on 23 May, was Trump's first encounter with the Palestinian Authority.[52][53]
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