In a Knesset speech, Trump urged Israel to reconcile with its longtime foe Iran. Both governments dismissed the idea
Amid the fanfare accompanying Donald Trump’s trip to the Middle East and Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas, one aspect of the US president’s pitch as a peacemaker went relatively unscrutinised.
In the highly unlikely setting of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, Trump proffered an olive branch to an even less likely recipient: the Jewish state’s arch enemy, Iran.
“It would be great if we made a peace deal with them. Wouldn’t it be nice?” he said. “I think they want to.”
The price for ending nearly half a century of hostilities between Washington and Tehran – dating back to the 1979-81 US embassy takeover that followed the Iranian revolution – would be for the theocratic regime to stop funding militant proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah and “finally recognize Israel’s right to existence”, he said.
