Israel's Netanyahu Congratulates Biden on US Election Win, Thanks Trump

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu as they pose at the White House in Washington, US, March 25, 2019. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu as they pose at the White House in Washington, US, March 25, 2019. (Reuters)
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Israel's Netanyahu Congratulates Biden on US Election Win, Thanks Trump

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu as they pose at the White House in Washington, US, March 25, 2019. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu as they pose at the White House in Washington, US, March 25, 2019. (Reuters)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday congratulated US President-elect Joe Biden after his election win saying he looked forward to working together with the new administration and strengthening the two countries’ alliance.

“Congratulations @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. Joe, we’ve had a long & warm personal relationship for nearly 40 years, and I know you as a great friend of Israel. I look forward to working with both of you to further strengthen the special alliance between the US and Israel,” Netanyahu said on his Twitter account, which still carries a photograph of him and incumbent US President Donald Trump at its head.

“Thank you @realDonaldTrump for the friendship you have shown the state of Israel and me personally, for recognizing Jerusalem and the Golan, for standing up to Iran, for the historic peace accords and for bringing the American-Israeli alliance to unprecedented heights,” Netanyahu tweeted.

Netanyahu’s message came hours after many world leaders and some Israeli ministers had congratulated Democrat Biden, even as Trump refused to concede and pressed ahead with legal fights against the outcome.

The right-wing Netanyahu’s particularly close ties with Trump followed an acrimonious relationship with his predecessor Barack Obama, which some critics have said had alienated Democrats and compromised US bipartisan support for Israel.

Friction between Netanyahu and the new administration could arise given Biden’s pledge to restore US involvement in the Iran nuclear deal and a likely opposition by the White House to Israeli settlement of occupied land where Palestinians seek statehood.

Having been in lockstep with Trump for the past four years, Netanyahu could face policy whiplash - although it may be delayed by the incoming Biden administration’s need to deal first with the COVID-19 crisis and US economic woes.



US Issues Fresh Iran Sanctions over Human Rights Violations

Women walk on a market street in Tehran on September 15, 2024, on the second anniversary of a protest movement sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Women walk on a market street in Tehran on September 15, 2024, on the second anniversary of a protest movement sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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US Issues Fresh Iran Sanctions over Human Rights Violations

Women walk on a market street in Tehran on September 15, 2024, on the second anniversary of a protest movement sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Women walk on a market street in Tehran on September 15, 2024, on the second anniversary of a protest movement sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

The United States issued a new round of Iran sanctions on Wednesday targeting 12 individuals who it said were tied to Tehran's "ongoing, violent repression of the Iranian people," including its "brutal crackdown on peaceful protests."
The sanctions, which come two years after the death of Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amin in police custody, target members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iranian prison officials "and those responsible for lethal operations overseas," the US Treasury Department said in a statement.
The Treasury Department said Iran's security forces, including the IRGC and its Basij paramilitary force, had led a crackdown on peaceful protests in cities all over Iran.
IRGC units had used lethal force against protesters, arrested people for political expression, and attempted to intimidate the Iranian people through violence, it said.