Israel Hopes for Rapprochement With Fifth Muslim Country Before Trump Exit

US White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner looks on during a visit by Israeli envoys to Rabat, Morocco, December 22, 2020 | Photo: REUTERS
US White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner looks on during a visit by Israeli envoys to Rabat, Morocco, December 22, 2020 | Photo: REUTERS
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Israel Hopes for Rapprochement With Fifth Muslim Country Before Trump Exit

US White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner looks on during a visit by Israeli envoys to Rabat, Morocco, December 22, 2020 | Photo: REUTERS
US White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner looks on during a visit by Israeli envoys to Rabat, Morocco, December 22, 2020 | Photo: REUTERS

Israel is working towards formalizing relations with a fifth Muslim country during US President Donald Trump's term, which ends next month, an Israeli government minister told Ynet TV on Wednesday.

The White House has brokered rapprochements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco this year, with Morocco hosting an Israeli-US delegation on Tuesday to flesh out the upgrade in relations.

Asked if a fifth country could sign up before Trump steps down on Jan 20, Israeli Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis told Ynet TV: "We are working in that direction."

"There will be an American announcement about another country that is going public with the normalization of relations with Israel and, in essence, with the infrastructure for an accord - a peace accord," he said.

He declined to name the country but said there were two main candidates. One is in the Gulf, he said, giving Oman as a possibility.

The other candidate, further to the east, is a "Muslim country that is not small" but is not Pakistan, Akunis said.

Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country, said last week it would not recognize Israel as long as Palestinian statehood demands remain unmet.



Israeli Military: 5 Soldiers Killed in Combat in South Lebanon

Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, as seen from Haifa, northern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, as seen from Haifa, northern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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Israeli Military: 5 Soldiers Killed in Combat in South Lebanon

Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, as seen from Haifa, northern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, as seen from Haifa, northern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Five Israeli soldiers were killed and 16 others wounded in combat in southern Lebanon in recent weeks, the Israeli military said in a statement on Thursday.

Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said in a speech aired Wednesday that the Lebanese group is open for ceasefire negotiations only once “the enemy stops its aggression.”

His speech marked the 40-day mourning period since former Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated in Beirut.

Hezbollah began firing into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Since the conflict erupted, more than 3,000 people have been killed and some 13,600 wounded in Lebanon, the Health Ministry reported.