Politico: Trump may be more eager to put out the flames in the Middle East than Netanyahu thinks
Politico reported that Netanyahu is procrastinating in the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, until the return of former President Donald Trump as president, but stressed that he must be careful, as Trump may be keener to put out the flames in the Middle East than Netanyahu realizes.
A senior diplomat from a Middle Eastern country, in close contact with negotiators, Politico said.
“Our assessment is that Netanyahu wants to buy time until the November elections”.
David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, who consulted Doha negotiators, said, “I think Netanyahu feels less pressure than Washington, he feels that Biden isn’t in a position to pressure him”.
Michael Koplow of the Israel Policy Forum noted that Netanyahu and his inner circle seem to believe that they can waste time until Trump returns to the Oval Office.
However, according to the magazine, it is unclear whether Trump’s victory for a second term will make a difference, especially since he wasn’t personally close to Netanyahu during the latter’s presidency, and Netanyahu angered the former US president when he congratulated Biden on winning in 2020.
Netanyahu believes Joe Biden has already become a powerless president, Politico reported, explaining that in the past two weeks, Netanyahu has postponed ceasefire talks, creating new demands, and he is doing so even as Biden has been positive about an impending deal.
There are several reasons for Netanyahu to slow down negotiations, but the main reason behind his latest stalling tactic appears to be his calculations that the US election is rapidly shifting in Trump’s favor.
With the US presidential election approaching, Netanyahu may believe he can escape pressure from Biden to stop the war, according to Politico, which also noted that Netanyahu believes Trump will be kind to Israel and tougher on her enemies.
Politico touched on Republican support for the Israel, noting that Netanyahu should be careful what he wishes, and that since the war began, Trump has sometimes criticized the Israeli government’s poor preparation, recalling what Trump said on April that Israel losing the PR war and needs to end the conflict soon.
Israeli experts noted that the language used in the Republican Party’s 2024 platform regarding the Israel appeared to soften the 2016 platform’s pledge of clear support for Israel, and that Trump may be more eager to put out the flames in the Middle East than Netanyahu realizes.
Trump wasn’t clear about what he would do, as the Republican Party’s 2024 platform is only 16 pages long, but Israel is the only one explicitly mentioned as a country that will be supported by the United States, without going into details.
It also quoted a national security expert familiar with the thinking within the Trump campaign, that matters related to Israel are still in a fairly black box and more ambiguous than other parts of his policy, but I would like to point out that Trump has been critical of Netanyahu, and he is clearly unhappy with him as an individual, and again Trump has tendencies towards making a deal.
