NPR's Morning Edition aired an interview July 29, 2026, with Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator who now leads a group called the US/Middle East Project. Levy was analyzing President Trump's meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House the day before.

Leila Fadel conducted the interview. The meeting on July 28 lasted about 90 minutes and focused on the Iran war, according to Axios and The Washington Post. Both Trump and Netanyahu called the session "productive." Netanyahu went further, calling it "excellent" and "one of the best we've ever had," as reported by The Times of Israel and The Defense Post.

But the positive tone covered up weeks of visible tension. Trump had expressed frustration with Netanyahu before the meeting, and the Trump administration gave few details about what happened inside the Oval Office, according to Al Jazeera. The Washington Post reported that disagreements between the two leaders over Iran had been growing before the visit.

Netanyahu left Israel for Washington on July 27, 2026. Before departing, he said he would discuss all current issues with Trump, "foremost among them being Iran," according to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office. A day earlier, on July 26, Netanyahu told his cabinet he would raise all pending issues with Trump, "including the situation in Iran."

The meeting also happened against an active military backdrop. The U.S. military said it stopped an Iranian attack on American troops around July 28, 2026, according to AP reporting.

Levy brings real experience to the conversation. He helped negotiate peace for Israel at the 1993 Oslo-B talks and later advised the Israeli government. He now runs the US/Middle East Project and works as a political commentator.

The July 28 session was the latest in a series of meetings and calls between Trump and Netanyahu this year. The two spoke by phone on July 9, 2026, and again on July 3, when Netanyahu congratulated Trump on the 250th anniversary of the United States. Trump had previously welcomed Netanyahu to the White House on April 7, 2025, and the two had dinner together on July 8, 2025.

The broader context here is the difference between how things looked publicly and what may have been happening behind closed doors. Netanyahu's warm description of the meeting follows his usual approach to dealing with Trump: showing friendship in public while pushing Israel's goals on Iran in private. Trump's frustration before the meeting, reported by Al Jazeera, suggests the administration may be losing patience with that approach, though the administration shared little about what was actually discussed.

The key signal for anyone watching U.S.-Israel relations on Iran is that the White House shared almost nothing after the meeting. When a government gives few specifics after a long meeting with a close ally, it usually means either the two sides have not resolved their disagreements, or they have decided to keep the discussion private while talks continue behind the scenes. Levy's interview matters because he has been inside Israeli decision-making, and he offered an outside perspective at a time when both governments were saying very little of substance.

What is still unclear is whether the "productive" label from both leaders means they genuinely agreed on Iran strategy, or whether they simply agreed to set aside the hardest questions for now. Levy's analysis, aired hours after the meeting ended, is among the first expert views shared publicly.