Israel received three F-35 stealth fighter jets from the United States at the weekend - a new generation of "near-invisible" planes that critics fear will free Israel's hand to launch air strikes and spying operations against neighbouring states undetected. In total, Israel has bought 50 F-35s from Lockheed Martin, and claims it will have the first squadron combat-ready before the end of the year.
The choice of US ambassador to Israel has never before incurred such scrutiny or provoked such controversy. David Friedman's confirmation by the Senate's foreign relations committee last week followed a petition signed by tens of thousands of American Jews opposing his nomination. Major Jewish organisations and hundreds of rabbis also objected. But then, Donald Trump's envoy to Israel is no ordinary ambassador.
In expressing ambivalence about the final number of states in a peace agreement, Donald Trump may have assumed he was leaving options open for his son-in-law and presumed peace envoy, Jared Kushner. But words can take on a life of their own, especially when uttered by the president of the world’s only superpower. The one-state option mooted by Trump will resonate with both Israelis and Palestinians because it reminds each of their historic ambitions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to meet US President Donald Trump on Wednesday with the aim of winning major concessions on the two issues highest on his agenda, Iran and the Palestinians. Netanyahu hopes to return home with a policy "prize" from Trump that will help him ward off potential challengers from within his coalition as he struggles against a mounting corruption scandal.
Often described as the powder-keg issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jerusalem was expected to loom large in Wednesday’s meeting in Washington between Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Tensions about the city’s future are high, given that Trump has vowed to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move that would implicitly recognise the city as Israel’s capital.
If the Trump's White House approves a relocation of the US embassy, it would overturn decades of international consensus on Jerusalem. The message to the Palestinians and Arab world would be clear and provocative, said Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian official. "Moving the embassy is the same as recognising Jerusalem as Israel's united capital. It's a war crime."
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu shrugged off the Paris peace summit as the 'last gasp of the past before the future sets in'. Israel has lost no time in preparing for the future, one in which peace talks and a two-state solution look obsolete. Ministers are rallying behind legislation to annex Maale Adumim, a large settlement east of Jerusalem in a strategically vital location in the West Bank.
Friedman's appointment would mean more than a change of address for the US embassy and a deterioration in the prospects for Palestinian statehood. Analysts say it would mark a seismic shift in the "special relationship" between the US and Israel - and an early casualty of the shockwaves might be the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas.
Netanyahu was among the first to congratulate Trump by phone. The US president-elect reciprocated by inviting him for talks "at the first opportunity". And yet Netanyahu is reported to be anxious about a Trump White House. Why? It is certainly not because of Trump’s stated policies on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The announcement last week by the United States of the largest military aid package in its history – to Israel – was a win for both sides. Benjamin Netanyahu could boast that his lobbying had boosted aid from $3.1 billion to $3.8bn a year. Barack Obama, meanwhile, hoped to stifle critics who insinuate that he is anti-Israel, as well as offer a presidential election fillip to Hillary Clinton. In reality, however, Obama's aid deal has quietly punished Netanyahu for his misbehaviour.
