Benjamin Netanyahu may feel like he’s won the jackpot, but Donald Trump’s motto is that he ends wars, and does not start them.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hit the jackpot with the election of Donald Trump. He could not hope for a more ardent supporter than the US president-elect to energise him and the extremists within his coalition to pursue their Gaza and Lebanon campaigns, and as they seek to diminish Iran’s regional influence.
In the weeks since his election win, Trump has already nominated a foreign policy team made up of staunchly pro-Netanyahu and pro-Israel elements. Coming from the far-right, with many linked to Christian evangelist movements, the group includes Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel and Steve Witkoff as Middle East envoy. The two are well known for their deep attachment to Netanyahu, and his extremist national security and finance ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
Yet, these objectives, plus the recent strengthening of rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, whose defence ministers met in Tehran earlier this month and whose navies have participated in a joint exercise, and Riyadh’s emphasis on a pathway to create an independent Palestinian state, do not augur well for Trump to be both a warrior for Israel and a transactional leader with the Arab states. He cannot have his cake and eat it too. He will need to find a balance between the two.
Trump may have little difficulty in overcoming the latter, given the size of his electoral victory and force of personality. But he will have serious difficulties in diverting Netanyahu and his colleagues from their mission of occupation and territorial expansion. Netanyahu has a successful history of defying American leaders based primarily on the strong bipartisan support that Israel enjoys in the US Congress.
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