Many Israeli officers have celebrated Donald Trump’s re-election to the US presidency.
On Tuesday, the president-elect revealed he would nominate former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee as the brand new US ambassador to Israel.
Huckabee, an evangelical Christian, is a staunch supporter of Israel and defender of Israeli settlements within the occupied West Financial institution, thought-about unlawful underneath worldwide legislation, together with the Geneva Conventions.
“He loves Israel and the individuals of Israel, and likewise, the individuals of Israel love him. Mike will work tirelessly to result in peace within the Center East!” Trump mentioned in an announcement.
Huckabee has beforehand criticised US President Joe Biden for pressuring Israel to average its conduct of the conflict within the Gaza Strip.
“If an individual is pro-Israel, how will you be pro-Biden as a result of the Biden administration has made it very clear they are going to make concessions to Hamas,” he had mentioned in an interview in March on US cable information community Information Nation.
Israel’s response to Donald Trump’s re-election
The response from many members of the Israeli authorities to Trump’s re-election has been celebratory.
Earlier than polls had closed on election day, Israel’s nationwide safety minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote on social media platform X, “Yesssss” with emojis of a bicep and the Israel and US flags.
Talking later within the Knesset, Ben-Gvir referred to Trump’s re-election, saying: “That is the time for sovereignty, that is the time for full victory.”
Following the US election, additionally wrote on X that Trump’s re-election was: “historical past’s best comeback”.
He congratulated the president-elect, saying his return: “provides a brand new starting for America and a strong recommitment to the nice alliance between Israel and America”.
In an announcement earlier this week, Netanyahu mentioned he had spoken to Trump 3 times in current days and that the pair see “eye to eye” on the “Iranian menace”.
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog additionally wished Trump on his election victory throughout his go to to Washington on Tuesday, the place he was hosted on the White Home by Biden.
He referred to Trump as: “a champion of peace and cooperation and a terrific buddy of Israel”.
“In our dialog only a few days in the past following his election, we spoke of the pressing have to deliver our hostages again house. President Trump reiterated his love for Israel; I thanked him for his friendship and wished him each success,” Herzog mentioned in his tackle to the Jewish Federations’ Basic Meeting in Washington.
Palestinians’ response to Trump’s victory
Some Palestinians in Gaza have expressed worry at Trump’s return to the White Home.
In Khan Younis within the southern Gaza Strip, Abu Osama, who has been displaced by unrelenting Israeli bombardments, instructed Reuters that Trump’s victory is a “new disaster within the historical past of the Palestinian individuals”.
Greater than 43,300 Palestinians have been killed in additional than a yr of conflict in Gaza, well being authorities within the enclave say, and far of the territory has been laid to waste.
The conflict between Hamas and Israel is the most recent escalation in a long-standing regional battle and adopted the October 7, 2023 assault wherein Hamas militants killed 1,200 Israelis and took greater than 250 hostages, in keeping with Israeli tallies.
Within the occupied West Financial institution, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a rival of Hamas, congratulated Trump on his election as US president. He mentioned he would cooperate with the brand new administration to succeed in regional peace.
“We’ll stay steadfast in our dedication to peace, and we’re assured that the USA will assist, underneath your management, the legit aspirations of the Palestinian individuals,” Abbas mentioned in an announcement.
Some Palestinians mentioned they noticed little distinction between former president Trump and vice chairman Kamala Harris, however felt Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital throughout his first time period demonstrated a stronger bias towards Israel.
Donald Trump’s first presidency
Throughout his first presidency from 2017 to 2021, Trump established himself as a staunch ally of Israel.
In 2017, Trump reversed a long time of US coverage by recognising Jerusalem — a metropolis sacred to Muslims, Jews, and Christians — because the capital of Israel and shifting the US embassy there. Hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets to protest the choice, which additionally drew criticism from each the Arab world and Western allies.
Australia, underneath the Morrison authorities, recognised West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in late 2018, however didn’t transfer its embassy there. .
Whereas Netanyahu hailed Trump’s 2017 announcement as a “historic landmark,” the choice was criticised by nations together with Britain and France. Palestinian president Abbas, in the meantime, mentioned the US had abdicated its position as a mediator within the peace course of.
In 2020, the Trump administration mediated , normalising diplomatic relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. Nonetheless, the agreements did little to advance Palestinian statehood within the West Financial institution and Gaza.
What is going to Trump’s second presidency deliver for Israel?
Trump is anticipated to proceed arming Israel, whose existence he mentioned would have been endangered if Harris had been elected — a declare dismissed by the Biden administration, which has expressed robust assist for Israel.
Whereas he has broadly known as for an finish to the conflict in Gaza, Trump has but to obviously define how his incoming administration may assist expedite that course of. In the course of the marketing campaign, he additionally reiterated his stance on Israel, stating he would assist what he described as Israel’s “proper to win its conflict on terror”.
Chatting with SBS Information earlier than the US election, Ian Parmeter, a analysis scholar on the Australian Nationwide College’s Centre for Arab and Islamic Research, mentioned Trump could be “much more pro-Israeli” than Harris and is probably going to present “freer rein to Netanyahu to do what he must win the conflict”.
He mentioned Trump’s assist would additionally doubtless prolong to Israel’s goals in Lebanon, the place , and Israel has directed damaging airstrikes and troop operations.
Jared Mondschein, director of analysis at the USA Research Centre, mentioned the celebrations from varied Israeli authorities officers present they’re anticipating an administration that may “not strain them to alter their plan of action”.
“I feel they’re anticipating a US administration, together with a possible US ambassador to Israel who’s supportive of plenty of Israeli settlements and the Israel Protection Forces,” he mentioned.
Nonetheless, Mondschein mentioned there could also be plenty of continuity between Biden and Trump’s presidencies on the subject of Israel as a consequence of bipartisan assist for Israel within the US.
In accordance with Brown College’s Prices of Warfare mission, the US has spent at the least US$17.9 billion ($27 billion) on army assist to Israel since October 7, as of 30 September.
Mondschein mentioned one level of distinction could also be that the Trump administration will place much less strain on Israel over guaranteeing humanitarian assist enters Gaza, however Trump will even be eager to see an finish to Israel’s conflict within the Palestinian enclave.
“I do suppose there’s a chance that Trump will put some strain on Israel to complete their operations in Gaza as a result of the US would not see it as useful to US efforts within the area,” he mentioned.
“The US is uninterested in a bipartisan consensus of the area taking over scarce resourcing, scarce consideration from the USA, and in order that’s why I feel, satirically, Trump often is the form of president to place strain on Israel to — possibly not deal with humanitarian features — however simply deal with getting out of Gaza,” Mondschein mentioned.
He mentioned neither Trump, Biden, nor Harris: “needs to see US blood or extra sources spent on the Center East, and so they’re actually simply hoping that it simply will not be an space they might want to deal with”.
All through his presidential marketing campaign, Trump promised to deliver peace within the Center East. Throughout his debate with Harris, the previous president mentioned he would “get that settled and quick”, referring to the battle.
Nonetheless, Trump has to this point been unclear on how he plans to deliver an finish to conflict within the Center East, telling Netanyahu “Do what it is advisable to do” whereas talking with the Israeli prime minister about his offensives in opposition to Hamas and Hezbollah in October, in keeping with a Washington Publish report.
— With further reporting from the Australian Related Press and Reuters.
