Yamina NK Bezalel Smotrich called for Israel to apply sovereignty over the West Bank before the next U.S. presidential term begins, in the event Democrat nominee Joe Biden wins the 2020 presidential elections.
U.S. President Donald Trump, currently behind in projected election results, is considered particularly pro-Israel. Trump made no move to limit Israel on settlement expansion in the West Bank, and his peace plan included extending Israeli sovereignty over large swathes of the West Bank.
Polls say over 60 percent of Israelis favor the Republican president over Biden, the former vice president in the Obama administration.
Biden has asserted that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are friends after years of being a pro-Israel politician in Washington, D.C., despite the view that former President Barack Obama was less friendly.
“If Trump indeed loses,” Smotrich said in an interview with Army Radio, “we will have to pressure Netanyahu to apply sovereignty and establish it before Biden arrives.”
“I have no doubt that Biden will also continue the American administration’s long-standing friendly policy toward Israel,” he said, despite Biden’s position on settlements.
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Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris
(Photo: AFP)
“There may be disagreements,” if Biden wins, the Yamina lawmaker said, but added that, “this can be managed.”
U.S. vice-presidential candidate and Biden's running mate Kamala Harris said she and Biden would oppose unilateral action by Israel that “undermine” a two-state solution and reinstate funding for the Palestinians, according to an interview published last Wednesday by The Arab American News.
Harris said a Biden presidency is "committed to a two-state solution, and we will oppose any unilateral steps that undermine that goal. We will also oppose annexation and settlement expansion."
Reprinted with permission from i24NEWS