JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated US President Donald Trump on his inauguration Monday, telling him in a video message the “best days of our alliance are yet to come”.
Praising Trump’s pro-Israel policies during his first term, Netanyahu said: “I believe that working together again we will raise the US-Israel alliance to even greater heights.”
“I’m confident that we will complete the defeat of Iran’s terror axis and usher in a new era of peace and prosperity for our region,” Netanyahu added, in reference to Tehran’s allied groups including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
He also thanked Trump for helping to secure a hostage release deal as part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement that came into force on Sunday.
Donald Trump sworn in as 47th US president
“I look forward to working with you to return the remaining hostages, to destroy Hamas’s military capabilities and end its political rule in Gaza, and to ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.”
In his 2017-2021 first term, Trump made a number of diplomatic moves in favour of Israel.
The United States became the first country to recognise Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which it conquered from Syria in 1967 and later annexed.
Washington also recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Israel claims the whole of Jerusalem, including the occupied and annexed east of the city which Palestinians envision as the capital of their hoped-for state, as its indivisible capital.
Trump also helped negotiate the Abraham Accords, which saw the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Bahrain normalise relations with Israel.
The new US president is said to be seeking a similar deal with Saudi Arabia, as did former president Joe Biden.
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