Out of all the congratulatory phone calls and messages Donald Trump received from world leaders following his astonishing victory, he invited only one figure to the White House: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“At the first opportunity,” Netanyahu’s office said as the pair spoke by telephone after Trump’s improbable White House victory. After a rocky relationship with the Obama administration, Netanyahu is probably counting the days until President-elect Trump takes over.
Israelis woke up to Trump as the 45th American president. But if they were largely unsure of what Trump’s stunning ascent to the presidency meant for Israel and its historic alliance with the US, they need not have worried.
They have found a true friend in Trump. The exhilaration Netanyahu displayed in a video message was very different from his sour relationship with outgoing president Barack Obama, mostly over his administration’s push for a two-state solution.
Obama could never see eye-to-eye with Netanyahu, especially with his insistence on a Palestinian state and stopping the encroachment of Israeli settlements. US-Israeli relations were bad from the start of his administration, and grew even worse with Obama’s Iran deal. Netanyahu’s re-election last year plainly rankled Obama even more.
In comes Trump who unlike his predecessor has been a staunch opponent of the two-state solution. Some on the Israeli right suggested Trump’s election could mark the end of two states altogether, citing the Republican Party platform which omitted any reference to two states for Israelis and Palestinians, breaking with decades of Republican tradition.
Worse is Trump’s stand on Jerusalem, having referred to East Jerusalem as the “undivided” and “eternal” capital of the Israeli regime. Many Israelis in and out of government look forward to Trump’s presidency because of their confidence that Trump will move the US Embassy to Jerusalem, a right-wing aspiration to cement Israeli control of the city. While Israel calls Jerusalem its capital, few other countries accept that, including the US.
Though Obama is counting down the days before he leaves the White House, Israel is extremely concerned that between now and Jan. 20, when Trump officially takes over, Obama might refuse to veto any UN Security Council resolution recognizing a Palestinian state. If Obama opts to withhold his veto power and the Security Council turns Palestine into a new UN member of equal standing, Israel will automatically and officially become an occupier by force of another UN member state. Secretary of State John Kerry has flatly refused to promise Israel that the US will veto any upcoming anti-Israel resolution but Trump has promised to keep the UN out of Israel.
One must only look at Trump’s possible choices as secretary of state to see what could be coming up for Israel and the Palestinians. The frontrunner is former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Following the Nice attack that killed 84 people earlier this year, it was Gingrich who suggested testing all US Muslims to see if they believe in Shariah, and deporting those who do. That’s not all. Gingrich’s repugnancy extended with the suggestion that mosques in the US be monitored.
Another possible selection, a former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton once dismissed Palestinian claims to statehood as a “ploy”. Israel advisor David Friedman, who will likely be Trump’s pick for Israeli ambassador, committed to moving the US embassy in a speech in Jerusalem last month. Thus, Trump’s cabinet will look dangerously like that of Netanyahu’s – a composition of extreme right-wing hawks.
During a policy speech in March, Trump said that if he became president, the days of treating Israel like a “second-class citizen” would end on day one. It is the first campaign promise he has kept.
