Netanyahu hoping for Trump triumph

JERUSALEM (AFP) — With the US presidential election heading into the home stretch, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will likely be hoping for Donald Trump to return to the White House.

Trump’s last time in office was good for Netanyahu, and in the lead-up to the 5 November vote, the former president has sent mixed messages on his Middle East policy.

His remarks have ranged from encouraging Netanyahu to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities — which Israel refrained from in its strikes Saturday — to criticizing the Israeli leader, saying “the 7 October attack would never have happened if I was president” and that he will pressure Israel to end the wars.

Yet it is these unclear policies, combined with Trump’s “make America great again” campaign slogan, that analysts say Netanyahu is hoping for.

An isolationist, Trump as a Republican president might give Netanyahu more freedom to navigate the conflicts that continue to rage in Gaza and Lebanon.

“One of Netanyahu’s milestones is the US election. He is praying for a Trump victory, which he thinks will give him a lot of freedom of movement, which will let him do what he aspires,” Gidon Rahat, political science professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Aviv Bushinsky, a political commentator and Netanyahu’s former chief of staff, similarly said: “His experience with Republicans is very good... unlike with the Democrats who are much tougher on him.”

In 17 years as prime minister, Netanyahu has only served opposite one Republican leader, Trump.

During his presidency, Trump went ahead with several moves that boosted Netanyahu’s domestic standing while upending some long-standing US policies on Israel, its conflict with the Palestinians and the wider region.

Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, which Israel claims as its undivided capital, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, and oversaw the normalization of ties between three Arab states and Israel.

Trump also withdrew from a landmark nuclear deal with Israel’s arch-foe Iran and reimposed tough economic sanctions on the Islamic republic.

Hamas attack observance

Meanwhile, Israelis on Sunday mark the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the unprecedented Hamas attack on 7 October last year that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.

Separate ceremonies will be held at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem for the armed forces personnel and the civilians killed in the attack, with top officials expected to attend both.

Flags were flown at half-mast on public buildings, including the parliament, from 6:29 a.m., which marked the start of the attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people in Israel, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

The attack sparked retaliatory Israeli bombardment and ground fighting that has killed 42,924 Palestinians, according to data from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which the United Nations considers reliable.