Netanyahu’s Envoy in Washington to Discuss Deal ‘Acceptable’ by Biden, Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receives US Presidential Envoy Amos Hochstein before their final meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem (dpa)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receives US Presidential Envoy Amos Hochstein before their final meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem (dpa)
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Netanyahu’s Envoy in Washington to Discuss Deal ‘Acceptable’ by Biden, Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receives US Presidential Envoy Amos Hochstein before their final meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem (dpa)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receives US Presidential Envoy Amos Hochstein before their final meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem (dpa)

Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer is in Washington for four days to hold talks with representatives of the Joe Biden administration and representatives of President-elect Donald Trump, on reaching a ceasefire agreement with Lebanon that would be satisfactory to both administrations.
Dermer, Netanyahu's closest ally and a crucial liaison to the Trump team and the Republican Party for the past 10 years, is working on a draft agreement that secures Israeli demands on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
His meetings in Washington come amid reports that diplomatic arrangements to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah could be near.
Israeli Demands
It seems that optimism about reaching a ceasefire deal in Lebanon rather hinges on Israeli-US understandings rather than on negotiations with Lebanon, where Hezbollah categorically rejects any additions to Resolution 1701. The Biden administration has proposed that Israel’s demands be listed in a letter of assurances sent by the White House to Netanyahu.
For Israel, those demands include the full implementation of UN resolution 1701, with a presence of double the number of Lebanese Army soldiers in the South, in addition to UNIFIL forces.
Israel also requires the deployment of non-Lebanese forces to implement the resolution, prevent Hezbollah from returning to the south or firing rockets into northern Israel.
The demands also stipulate that Syria prevents the transfer of weapons from its territory to Lebanon.
Further, they require that during the initial 60-day implementation period, Lebanon will dismantle and confiscate all military assets, arms, and infrastructure of all non-state armed groups south of the Litani River.
Any possible ceasefire deal would also recognize Israel’ right to act against violations of Resolution 1701.
At this point, US officials demand that Israel should not act against these violations immediately. Instead, they request that Tel Aviv first inform Washington about the breaches and allow for consolations with UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army to solve any problem.
Political sources in Tel Aviv confirmed progress in the Israeli-US negotiations for a ceasefire.
If Dermer succeeds to conclude an understanding, then President Biden’s envoy Amos Hochstein will travel to Beirut to negotiate a deal with the Lebanese government and Speaker Nabih Berri, who is negotiating on behalf of Hezbollah.
Army Radio reported earlier in the day that Dermer had secretly visited Russia last week to discuss their potential involvement as a party that could guarantee that Hezbollah would not rearm along Israel’s northern border.
Israel's Channel 12 reported Sunday that Dermer's efforts come as Tel Aviv fears that the UN Security Council adopts a new resolution that would severely restrict Israel's military freedom. The UN Security Council may seek to pass a resolution calling for an immediate cessation of fighting in the Gaza Strip, or imposing strict restrictions on Israeli military activities in Gaza and Lebanon.
Trump’s Wishes
Sources said Netanyahu is being extremely cautious with Trump and his wishes to end the war. The PM has chosen Dermer to follow up with the President elect to show positive signs about Israel’s willingness to finish the war.
Netanyahu wants the war to continue on condition that the Americans blame Hezbollah or Hamas or both for any failure to reach a ceasefire deal, the sources affirm.
January 20
Meanwhile, Ariel Bulshtein wrote on Sunday at the right-wing Israel Hayom newspaper that Donald Trump's re-election as US president is excellent news for Israel in so many ways that it is not easy to choose which is the most important.
He said Trump will help Israel to exterminate Hamas in Gaza, eliminate the Hezbollah threat from Lebanon, narrow Iran's nuclear options, stop international funding for anti-Israel UN agencies, curb the actions of international courts against Israel and its leaders, and normalize relations with Saudi Arabia.
He said the US and Israel will begin to work on those topics starting January 20, 2025 in the absence of any obstacles which Tel Aviv had to face under the Biden administration.

 



Trump Makes a Victor’s Return to Washington to Meet with Biden and GOP Lawmakers

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump smiles at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump smiles at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
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Trump Makes a Victor’s Return to Washington to Meet with Biden and GOP Lawmakers

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump smiles at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump smiles at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)

President-elect Donald Trump is making a victor's return to Washington.

President Joe Biden will welcome him to the White House on Wednesday for an Oval Office visit that is a traditional part of the peaceful handoff of power — a ritual that Trump himself declined to participate in four years ago.

Trump also planned to meet with Republicans from Congress as they focus on his Day 1 priorities and prepare for a potentially unified government with a GOP sweep of power in the nation's capital. His arrival amid Republican congressional leadership elections could put his imprint on the outcome.

It's a stunning return to the US seat of government for the former president, who departed nearly four years ago a diminished, politically defeated leader after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol but is preparing to come back to power with what he and his GOP allies see as a mandate for governance.

Ahead of the visit, House Speaker Mike Johnson said that Republicans are "ready to deliver" on Trump’s "America First" agenda.

After his election win in 2016, Trump met with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office and called it "a great honor." But he soon was back to heaping insults on Obama, including accusing his predecessor — without evidence — of having wire-tapped him during the 2016 campaign.

Four years later, Trump disputed his 2020 election loss to Biden, and he has continued to lie about widespread voter fraud that did not occur. He didn't invite Biden, then the president-elect, to the White House and he left Washington without attending Biden's inauguration. It was the first time that had happened since Andrew Johnson skipped Ulysses S. Grant's swearing-in 155 years ago.

Biden insists that he'll do everything he can to make the transition to the next Trump administration go smoothly. That's despite having spent more than a year campaigning for reelection and decrying Trump as a threat to democracy and the nation’s core values. Biden then bowed out of the race in July and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him.

In the wake of the election, the president has abandoned his dire warnings about Trump, saying in a speech last week, "The American experiment endures. We’re going to be okay."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden is committed to "making sure that this transition is effective, efficient and he's doing that because it is the norm, yes, but also the right thing to do for the American people."

"We want this to go well," Jean-Pierre added. "We want this to be a process that gets the job done."

Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan echoed that sentiment, saying the administration will uphold the "responsible handoff from one president to the next, which is in the best tradition of our country."

Wednesday's visit is more than just a courtesy call.

"They will go through the top issues — both domestic and foreign policy issues — including what is happening in Europe and Asia and the Middle East," Sullivan told CBS of Wednesday’s meeting. "And the president will have the chance to explain to President Trump how he sees things ... and talk to President Trump about how President Trump is thinking about taking on these issues when he takes office."

Traditionally, as the outgoing and incoming presidents meet in the West Wing, the first lady hosts her successor upstairs in the residence — but Melania Trump isn’t expected to attend.

After his 2016 meeting with Obama, Trump also visited lawmakers on Capitol Hill and will be doing the same Wednesday — not far from where a mob of his supporters staged a violent January 2021 attack on the US Capitol to try and stop the certification of Biden's election victory.

When Trump left Washington in 2021, even some top Republicans had begun to decry him for his role in helping incite the Capitol attack. But his win in last week's election completes a political comeback that has seen Trump once again become the unchallenged head of the GOP.

It's not the first time Trump has returned to the Capitol area since the end of his first term, though. Congressional Republicans hosted Trump over the summer, as Trump was again solidifying his dominance over the party.

His latest visit comes as Republicans, who wrested the Senate majority from Democrats in last week's elections and are on the cusp of keeping GOP control of the House, are in the midst of their own leadership elections happening behind closed doors Wednesday.

The president-elect's arrival will provide another boost to Johnson, who has pulled ever-closer to Trump as he worked to keep his majority — and his own job with the gavel.

The speaker said he expects to see Trump repeatedly throughout the week, including at an event later that evening, and at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida "all weekend."

It's unclear whether Trump will also visit the Senate, which is entangled in a more divisive closed-door leadership election in the three-way race to replace outgoing GOP Leader Mitch McConnell.

Trump's allies are pushing GOP senators to vote for Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who had been a longshot candidate challenging two more senior Republicans, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, for the job.