Fawaz Gerges, a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics, said that after Netanyahu “betted his time on Joe Biden,” he was definitely “betting on Donald Trump.”
Gerges said that under President Trump, Washington, already Israel’s largest arms supplier, “basically gives Prime Minister Netanyahu whatever he wants, especially with continued wars in Gaza and Lebanon, but also with Iran itself.” He feared that it would even give the go-ahead for escalating the fighting.” ” U.S. spending on Israeli military operations has already reached more than $17.9 billion between October 7 and September 30 of last year, according to Brown University’s War Expenditure Project.
In a phone interview Tuesday, Gerges recalled Trump’s 2016 inauguration, when the Republican Party made several decisions, including the controversial decision to formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and recognition of the state of Israel. He said he had already shown a willingness to “go above and beyond the call of duty to give everything to Prime Minister Netanyahu.” Sovereignty of the disputed Golan Heights.
Despite these concerns, Gerges said that because “US foreign policy is historically tied to Israel,” the overall feeling in the Arab world is that ultimately “it doesn’t matter who wins the White House.” “No,” he said.
Many Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, who believe Trump’s victory will give Israel greater freedom to expand its settlements, appear to share that sentiment.
“As a Palestinian, I don’t think it matters,” Riyad Awad, 61, said Wednesday in the central West Bank city of Ramallah. “Republicans and Democrats, they didn’t help us.”
Footage taken by an NBC News team in Gaza showed Palestinians gathered at a makeshift shelter in Khan Yunis, watching the election results on television screens.
While some expressed deep concern about Trump’s victory, others were curious about whether he was the right person to finally end the fighting after months of failed U.S. efforts. .
“He said he would end the war,” said Hassam al-Sharif, 19, who was forced from his home further south in Gaza by Israeli attacks. “He’s a man of his word. Once he makes a decision, no one can do anything but obey him.”
Ukraine expresses public admiration
Ukraine tried to show a similar lack of concern about how the outcome would change the US approach to the war in Europe.
President Trump has said he would be able to resolve Russian aggression before taking office, but that would certainly require huge concessions that Kiev would find unacceptable. He praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and unfairly criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for starting the war, but refused to commit to sending more aid to the conflict-stricken country.
Maksym Kostetsky, director of the Kyiv-based think tank Center for Policy Decision-making, said Trump “will try to make peace with the aggressor, which is Russia.” He said talking about negotiations when Russia is on the offensive is “absolutely unacceptable” and “we are concerned that it could have a negative impact on Ukrainian society.”
Still, President Zelenskiy publicly welcomed Trump’s victory and said he looked forward to “an era of a strong United States under President Trump’s decisive leadership.”
