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Israel’s Far Right Challenges Biden, Slams US Policy on Gaza

Joe Biden with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu during the US President’s solidarity visit to Israel on October 18 (dpa)
Joe Biden with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu during the US President’s solidarity visit to Israel on October 18 (dpa)
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Israel’s Far Right Challenges Biden, Slams US Policy on Gaza

Joe Biden with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu during the US President’s solidarity visit to Israel on October 18 (dpa)
Joe Biden with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu during the US President’s solidarity visit to Israel on October 18 (dpa)

The Israeli right wing and far-right parties of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government are not satisfied with the economic, military and economic support offered by the US administration of President Joe Biden for Israel.
On Friday, those parties slammed the US policy on Gaza and said Washington is “trying to impose dictates on the Israeli government.” They also accused the Biden administration of seeking to drive the Israelis to suicide by establishing a Palestinian state, and trying to prevent them from paying the price for a Hamas massacre against the people of Gaza.
The far right is telling Washington that Israel now has a rare opportunity. “With our soldiers proudly returning to our positions in the south, we must return fully, sovereignly and morally, to Gaza,” according to Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katsover, the founders of Sovereignty Movement, Ribonut, and members of the Otzma Yehudit party of Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir.
Matar and Katsover, famous for their violent settler protests 30 years ago, wrote that “a thousand Israeli flags should now be raised at key positions in the Gaza Strip, alongside the flags heroically raised by our soldiers working there.”
No to Foreign Intervention
Also, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich expressed his dissatisfaction with the US policy on Gaza. He said that Israel is “an independent state that governs itself, knows its interests, and does not like friends to interfere in our affairs.”
When asked to comment on Biden's criticism of the far right in Israel and his call for changes in Netanyahu's government that would get rid of the extremists, Smotrich responded, “I see that as a compliment.”
Two Opinion Polls
Two Maariv and Yedioth Ahronoth polls conducted this week showed Friday that a high percentage of Israelis oppose the US approach to the future of the Gaza Strip and demand that Israel remains in it.
One poll published by the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, found that 23% of Israelis believe that the Gaza Strip should be ruled by an Israeli military after the war, while 23% say it should be ruled by moderate Arab states.
Another poll published on Friday by the Israeli newspaper Maariv said 43% of Israelis disapprove of Netanyahu’s treatment of Biden than support it, 36%.
The poll also showed a “decline in popularity” for the Likud Party led by Netanyahu.
According to the poll results, if the elections were held today, Likud and its ally parties would win 43 seats, compared to the 64 seats this coalition currently holds in the parliament or Knesset, according to the 2022 elections.
The results concluded that the Likud party would receive only 17 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, while the National Unity Party led by Gantz would receive 39 seats if general elections were held.

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Greenland Independence Is Possible but Joining the US Unlikely, Denmark Says

The Greenlandic (L) and Danish flags are pictured at the Ministry of Finance in Copenhagen on January 8, 2025. (AFP)
The Greenlandic (L) and Danish flags are pictured at the Ministry of Finance in Copenhagen on January 8, 2025. (AFP)
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Greenland Independence Is Possible but Joining the US Unlikely, Denmark Says

The Greenlandic (L) and Danish flags are pictured at the Ministry of Finance in Copenhagen on January 8, 2025. (AFP)
The Greenlandic (L) and Danish flags are pictured at the Ministry of Finance in Copenhagen on January 8, 2025. (AFP)

Greenland may become independent if its residents want, but is unlikely to become a US state, Denmark's foreign minister said on Wednesday after US President-elect Donald Trump refused to rule out force to take control of the Arctic island.

Greenland's leader held talks on Wednesday with the Danish king in Copenhagen, a day after Trump's remarks thrust the fate of the mineral-rich and strategically important island, which is under Danish rule, to the top of world headlines.

Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, said on Tuesday he would not rule out using military or economic action to make Greenland part of the United States. The same day, Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., made a private visit to Greenland.

Greenland, part of NATO through the membership of Denmark, has strategic significance for the US military and for its ballistic missile early-warning system since the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the Arctic island.

The president-elect has indicated he would pursue a more combative foreign policy that disregards traditional diplomatic formalities.

Greenland, the world's biggest island, has been part of Denmark for 600 years although its 57,000 people now govern their own domestic affairs. The island's government led by Prime Minister Mute Egede aims for eventual independence.

"We fully recognize that Greenland has its own ambitions. If they materialize, Greenland will become independent, though hardly with an ambition to become a federal state in the United States," Danish foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said.

He told reporters the United States' heightened security concerns in the Arctic were legitimate following increased Russian and Chinese activity in the region.

"I don't think that we're in a foreign policy crisis," he said. "We are open to a dialogue with the Americans on how we can possibly cooperate even more closely than we do to ensure that the American ambitions are fulfilled."

Still, although Denmark itself played down the seriousness of Trump's threat to its territory, the returning president's openly stated ambition to expand US borders has jolted European allies less than two weeks before he takes office.

France's foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, said Europe would not let other nations attack its sovereign borders, although he did not believe the US would invade.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed surprise at Trump's comments about Greenland and Canada, underlining that European partners unanimously uphold the inviolability of borders as a cornerstone of international law.

STRAINED RELATIONS

Greenland's relations with Denmark have lately been strained by allegations of colonial-era mistreatment of Greenlanders. Egede has said the island is not for sale, while in his New Year speech he stepped up his push for independence. Denmark says the territory's fate can be decided only by Greenlanders.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Tuesday she could not imagine Trump's ambitions would lead to US military intervention in Greenland. Denmark's military capabilities there are limited to four inspection vessels, a Challenger surveillance plane and dog sled patrols.

Responding to Trump's threat of tariffs against Denmark, which according to analysts at Danske Bank could potentially be "quite harmful to Danish companies, Frederiksen said she did not think a trade war with the United States was a good way forward.

Denmark is home to Novo Nordisk, Europe's most valuable company, which makes weight-loss drug Wegovy that has become hugely popular in the United States, the Nordic country's biggest trading partner.

The Danish royal palace gave no details ahead of King Frederik's meeting in Copenhagen on Wednesday with Greenland's Prime Minister Egede.

While many Greenlanders dream of independence from Denmark, the king remains popular on the island, having spent extended periods there, including a four-month expedition on the ice sheet. Last month, the royal court modified its coat of arms, enlarging a polar bear that symbolizes Greenland.

"I'm sure the king is really the person best placed in Denmark to deal with this issue right now because he has a long history with Greenland," Damien Degeorges, a Reykjavik-based consultant specializing in Greenland, told Reuters.

"He's popular in Greenland. So he can clearly be helpful to the Danish-Greenlandic relationship."

Trump already raised the issue of the US taking over Greenland during his first presidency, but his latest remarks still left many Danes baffled.

"I find it extremely ridiculous," said Jeppe Finne Sorenson, a data engineer in the Danish capital. "We have an alliance, we're allies. So this doesn't really respect that."