Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he spoke with incoming US President-elect Donald Trump three times over the past few days to strengthen the alliance between the two countries, news agency Reuters reported.
“These were good and very important conversations. We see eye to eye on the Iranian threat in all its components, and the danger posed by it. We also see the great opportunities before Israel, in the field of peace and its expansion, and in other fields,” said Netanyahu in a statement.
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Trump's pro-Israel moves
Analysts believe Netanyahu had wished for Trump's victory as the two share a long-standing personal friendship. Trump's hawkish stance on Iran and several moves during his first term as US president further cemented their relations.
In December 2017, Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital and also sent his daughter, Ivanka Trump, to the inauguration of a new US embassy in Jerusalem, relocated from Israel's capital, Tel Aviv. His administration also recognised Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a Syrian territory under Israel's occupation since the 1967 Six-Day Arab-Israel War.
Trump's policies were widely regarded as pro-Israel and a marked shift from the stance of previous US administrations. His policies over Jerusalem and Golan Heights were met with severe protests in the Middle East and were also condemned as a violation of international law.
{{/usCountry}}Trump's policies were widely regarded as pro-Israel and a marked shift from the stance of previous US administrations. His policies over Jerusalem and Golan Heights were met with severe protests in the Middle East and were also condemned as a violation of international law.
{{/usCountry}}Trump was also instrumental in materialising the so-called Abraham Accords, which helped Israel normalise its bilateral relations with several Arab countries in West Asia. Under these accords, Israel established formal diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco.
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In January 2020, Trump unveiled his “Middle East Peace Plan”, also referred to as the “deal of the century”. The plan technically proposed a two-state solution towards a Palestinian state with limited sovereignty and gave Israel complete control over the security of the proposed arrangement.
The plan also endorsed Israel's annexation of large portions of the occupied West Bank, including illegal Israeli settlements, in exchange for potential economic support and a demilitarized Palestinian state.
The Trump administration also cut substantial US aid to Palestinians, including funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). The move was widely seen as a pressure campaign by his administration to force the Palestinian administration towards a negotiated settlement.
(With agency inputs)