Donald Trump accused Western countries of "rewarding Hamas" after Australia recognised Palestine. Photo / Getty Images
Donald Trump has accused Australia and other Western countries of “rewarding Hamas” as Anthony Albanese is once again left off the list of bilateral meetings and forced to make do with a handshake.
News.com.au has confirmed there were tentative hopes of a one-on-one meeting on Sunday in Washington DC after the United States President insisted last week that he would meet with Albanese “soon”.
That hope was dashed after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, with Trump rushing to Arizona for the globally televised memorial service.
The White House confirmed overnight the worst kept secret in the PM’s travelling press pack – that there is no formal meeting planned at the UN in New York.
Overnight, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed the Australian Prime Minister is not on the list for Trump’s bilateral and multilateral meetings during his time in New York.
However, the PM is still hoping to secure a handshake with Trump, if as expected he bumps into him at the United Nations at an event that will be attended by about 100 world leaders.
Asked about the decision of Australia and others to recognise Palestine this week, Leavitt said “the President has been very clear he disagrees with this decision”.
“He feels this does not do anything to release the hostages, which is the primary goal right now in Gaza. It does nothing to end this conflict and bring this war to a close,” Trump’s press secretary said.
“And frankly he believes it is a reward to Hamas.
“He believes these decisions is just more talk and not enough action from some of our friends and allies. And I think you’ll hear him talk about that tomorrow at the UN.”
Last week, Trump let the cat out of the bag during the brief press conference in Washington DC, as he departed for a trip to the United Kingdom, that a meeting with Albanese was imminent.
The endless saga on when and where Albanese will secure his first face-to-face meeting has now dragged on since January, since the inauguration of Trump as the United States’ 47th President.
Australian Government sources told news.com.au at the time that the meeting was still in the planning stages and nothing was locked in formally.
Here’s how the exchange with the US Americas editor John Lyons unfolded. Lyons is the former Global Affairs editor for the ABC who is working on a Four Corners investigation into Trump’s business dealings.
During the exchange, Lyons asked questions about his business interests.
Lyons: Is it appropriate, President Trump, that a president in office should be engaged in so much business activity?
Trump: Well I am really not, my kids are running the business … Where are you from?
Lyons: I am from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Four Corners program.
Trump: You are hurting the Australians right? In my opinion you are hurting Australia very much right now and they want to get along with me. You know your leader is coming over to see me very soon. I am going to tell him about you, you set a very bad tone – you can set a nicer tone.
After Lyons tried to lob another question at the US President, Trump pointed at the reporter while saying “quiet”.
The White House then posted a tweet with the interaction calling the ABC’s respected US-based Global Affairs Editor John Lyons a “rude foreign fake news loser”.
The ABC journalist was in a gaggle of reporters outside the White House asking questions of the President before he departed for a UK state visit.
Lyons’ storied CV includes stints at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, an executive producer on Channel 9 news programs and a senior executive in news and current affairs at the ABC. He has won three Walkley Awards, Australia’s highest journalistic honour.
After the Prime Minister endured months of speculation over the failure to secure his first face-to-face meeting with Trump, the “warm and constructive” phone call he secured on September 5 was the next best thing.
The phone call was locked in after Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles’ trip to the US but was kept under wraps while Parliament was sitting this week.
Albanese spoke to Trump for the fourth time since the President was re-elected last November, with the two leaders discussing economic co-operation, trade and critical minerals and the Prime Minister describing the chat as “warm”.
Albanese will use his speech in New York today to highlight Palestinians’ right to have “a place they can call home”.
“In recognising Palestine, Australia recognises the legitimate and long-held aspirations of the Palestinian people. That means more than a seat, a voice and a vote in the councils of the world. It means real hope for a place they can call home,” he said.
“This is the same hope that sustained generations of Jewish people. The same hope that binds each of us to our countries and cultures, that drives all of us to want a better life for our children.”
Albanese will attend the UN headquarters to listen to Trump’s speech and attend a reception hosted by the President and First Lady Melania Trump where he may secure an opportunity to say hello.
Overnight, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has told Sussan Ley that Benjamin Netanyahu’s Government appreciates her opposition to a Palestinian state.
“I expressed our appreciation for her position opposing the Government of Australia’s recent decision and for her announcement that, should there be a change of government in Australia, this decision would be reversed,” Sa’ar said.
“I outlined to her Israel’s objectives in the war in Gaza and the major efforts being made to enable the continued flow of humanitarian assistance under challenging conditions.
“I stressed that Israel is well aware of the many friends it has in Australia and distinguishes between the Government and the people of Australia.”
Ley told Sa’ar she will oppose Albanese’s “reckless” moves on Palestine.
It comes after Ley also wrote to a group of 25 Republican legislators in the US, imploring to not judge Australia on the Prime Minister’s Palestinian recognition push.
Ley, who has previously been accused of being too pro-Palestine, reiterated the Coalition’s long-held position that recognition must only come at the end of a genuine two-state process.
“Now is the wrong time while Hamas holds hostages and while conflict still rages,” she said on X.
Earlier this year, the Prime Minister had high hopes of securing a meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada.
“I do expect to meet the president on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in three days’ time,” Albanese said at the time.
“I’m going to raise the tariffs, we’ll raise the importance of Aukus and have a discussion as two friends should.”
But the President then made an early exit, leaving the G7 summit in Canada and skipping meetings with a number of world leaders including Albanese as he returned to Washington amid escalating war in the Middle East.
“I have to be back as soon as I can,” Trump said.
“I wish I could stay until tomorrow, but they understand, this is big stuff.”
That “big stuff” is of course the unfolding crisis in the Middle East.
The US has already helped Israel intercept missiles, but reportedly insisted that the US had made it clear Israel is acting alone in attacking Iran.
Trump had earlier posted a statement on his Truth Social platform declaring that “everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” – referring to Iran’s capital, which has a population of almost 10 million.
“AMERICA FIRST means many GREAT things, including the fact that, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” he wrote in a separate post.
Meanwhile, the long list of world leaders who have met with Trump this year includes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who he met on February 5.
Two days later he met Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba – who he found time to meet for a second time at the G7 on the sidelines.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Trump agreed to push ahead with trade talks but failed to achieve a breakthrough that would lower or eliminate tariffs.
They met for 30 minutes on the sidelines of the G7 leaders summit as the Prime Minister found out – via social media – that the Trump administration had kicked Australia off the dance card.
In February he also held talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Then later that month he met with Prime Minister Keir Starmer. A day later came the fateful and explosive meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House.
He also met with French President Emmanuel Macron in February and Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin in March.
Nato Secretary-general Mark Rutte also scored a face-to-face before the US President had a second meeting with Netanyahu.
In April, he held talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni before a second meeting with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele.
The Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Støre caught up with him in April.
That same month, as world leaders travelled to Pope Francis’ funeral, the Prime Minister was fighting an election at home.
President Trump held another meeting with President Zelensky on the sidelines of the funeral, producing another historic photograph of the pair in Vatican City.
He also met with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in May and the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in June.
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