Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President-elect Donald Trump discussed the "Iranian threat" over the phone on Wednesday, following Trump’s victory, which Netanyahu hailed as a "strong re-commitment to the great alliance" between their two countries.
Earlier, Naim Qassem, the new head of Hezbollah, which is backed by Tehran, expressed his determination to continue fighting against Israel, despite the blows dealt to his movement since the Israeli military redirected its war efforts, focused for over a year on Hamas, against Hezbollah.
The conversation between Trump and Netanyahu was "friendly and cordial," and the two leaders "agreed to cooperate for Israel’s security" and "discussed the threat of Iran," which also supports Hamas, according to Netanyahu’s office.
Netanyahu had previously welcomed Donald Trump's "historic return to the White House," noting his numerous pro-Israel gestures while in office, making him the favored candidate among Israelis according to polls.
"Together, we will strengthen the American-Israeli alliance, bring home the hostages" — held in Gaza since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war in the Palestinian territory — "and stand firm to defeat the Iran-led Axis of Evil," tweeted Israel's new Defense Minister, Israel Katz.
"Trump will likely continue to back Netanyahu in his battles in Gaza and Lebanon," but "without allowing him to enter a real war against Iran," former Palestinian Minister Ghassan Khatib, a professor at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank, told AFP.
"We just need" the future president "to give us weapons" to "end the war," responded Yossi Mizrachi, a 51-year-old Israeli fruit seller at a Jerusalem market.
"We need someone strong like Trump to end the war," said Mamdouh Al-Jadba, a 60-year-old Gazan displaced by the fighting, in Gaza City.
Cyril Julien and Layal Abou Rahal, with AFP
Comments