Steve Inskeep

Hi, good morning.

How is Benjamin Netanyahu talking through all this?

I don't think any two leaders have been as coordinated as President Trump and I. He's the leader.

I'm, you know, his ally.

Yeah, I know you've had to go down to the shelters a couple times as we've been preparing for this report.

Remarkable that Netanyahu would claim that one of Israel's war aims and U.S.

war aims has been achieved, but he doesn't give evidence.

We'll look for more there.

And what else is happening in the war?

OK, so a lot is happening at a time that should be a holiday or is a holiday for many people across the Middle East, the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

What's the mood like?

NPR's Kerry Kahn is in Tel Aviv.

Kerry, thanks so much.

President Trump met Thursday with an ally whose help he wants in reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

And Paris Franco-Ordonez is here.

Franco, good morning.

Okay.

Could Japan turn into an ally, a player in the Middle East?

Franco, I'll just note she even kept her composure when Trump brought up Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II.

He was at the time defending the U.S.