BICOM

Speaking about the Israeli election, US President Donald Trump said yesterday: ‘They don’t need this.. They’ve got enough turmoil over there.”

In a series of remarks to US media Trump said it was: “Too bad what happened in Israel. It looked like a total win for Netanyahu, who’s a great guy, he’s a great guy. And now they’re back… in the election stage. That is too bad. Because they don’t need this.”

Trump’s senior adviser, Jared Kushner, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem yesterday as part of a regional tour to promote the administration’s Middle East peace plan. Kushner presented Netanyahu with a map showing the Golan Heights as part of Israel that was signed by President Trump. Trump drew an arrow next to the Golan and wrote ‘Nice’ in large letters.

In a brief statement before their three hour meeting, Netanyahu told reporters that: “It’s always a great pleasure to welcome Jared Kushner to Israel… to discuss our common efforts for prosperity, security and peace.” He said he was: “Tremendously encouraged by everything I hear, and about how President Trump, the United States, are working to bring allies together in the region against common challenges, but also to seize common opportunities.”

Referring to the Knesset vote to dissolve itself and trigger a new election, Netanyahu said: “Even though we had a little event last night, it is not going to stop us. We are going to continue working together. We had a great, productive meeting that reaffirms that the alliance with the United States of America has never been stronger, and is going to get stronger.”

Kushner, joined by Jason Greenblatt the special representative for international negotiations and Brian Hook, the special representative for Iran, was in Israel after visits to Morocco and Jordan. Kushner said: “This was my first visit to Israel since the President recognised the Golan Heights, which was a very important announcement. The security of Israel is something that’s critical to the relationship between America and Israel and also very important to the president in his heart, and we appreciate all your efforts to strengthen the relationship between our two countries.”