Trump Calls for Israel To End Legal Cases Against Netanyahu, as Mideast Political Landscape Looks Set To Shift After Victory Over Iran

President Trump, in a possible attempt to utilize the Iran war victory to rearrange the Mideast’s political architecture, is calling on Israel to drop legal cases against Prime Minister Netanyahu.Mr. Netanayahu will visit the president at Washington in the coming days, according to an Israeli press report. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, confirmed the report, but said no date has yet been set. During the meeting the two leaders could announce an end to the Gaza war and steps toward peace between Israel and former enemies. The Iran victory “opens up an opportunity for a dramatic widening of peace agreements,” Mr. Netanayhu said Thursday in a Hebrew-language video message. “We are working hard on it. Aside from freeing our hostages from Hamas, a window of opportunities has opened up and we must not miss it. We must not miss even one day.” On Monday Mr. Netanyahu asked for a two-week delay of a hearing during which he was scheduled to give testimony. He cited urgent security and diplomatic developments. The request followed Mr. Trump’s social media post Wednesday calling for an end to what he termed Israel’s “ridiculous witch hunt against their great war time prime minister.” Praising Mr. Netanayhu’s courage in the Iran war, Mr. Trump wrote that he was “shocked” to learn of court cases against the premier “concerning cigars, a Bugs Bunny doll, and numerous other unfair charges.” The trial, he added, “should be cancelled, immediately, or a pardon given to a great hero, who has done so much for the state.” Such a pardon could only be granted by President Herzog. While the Israeli president has yet to comment, the premier did so immediately. “Thank you @realDonaldTrump,” Mr. Netanyahu wrote on X. “I was deeply moved by your heartfelt support for me and your incredible support for Israel and the Jewish people. I look forward to continue working with you to defeat our common enemies, liberate our hostages and quickly expand the circle of peace.”Israel Hayom newspaper reported Thursday that after the American strike on three Iranian nuclear sites Saturday, Messrs. Netanyahu and Trump, as well as Secretary Rubio and one of the Israeli premier’s confidantes, Ron Dermer, conducted a four-way phone call that outlined future Mideast developments. The plan is for the Gaza war to end within two weeks, according to the report. Four Arab countries, including Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, will control the Strip after Hamas’s remaining leaders there are exiled. Several countries will take in Gazans who want to emigrate.Israel will express support for a two-state solution, pending significant reform of the Palestinian Authority, according to the report, while America will recognize Israel’s sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria. Several Arab and Muslim countries will then recognize Israel and open mutual embassies. “We think we will have some pretty big announcements on countries that are coming into the Abraham Accords,” Mr. Trump’s top Mideast negotiator, Steven Witkoff, told CNBC Thursday. “One of the president’s key objectives is that the Abraham Accords be expanded and more countries come into it, and we are working on that.”Saudis and others, including possibly Indonesia and Syria, are reportedly awaiting an end to the Gaza war for any progress to be made in peace diplomacy. The Israeli body politic, though, is divided over Gaza. Hamas is yet to be completely defeated, right-wing members of Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet say. Other coalition partners say the time has come to end the war and return the remaining 50 hostages, including 20 men who are presumed alive. That debate heated up Wednesday, after seven Israel Defense Force troops were killed in combat in Gaza.“What are we going to do there that soldiers are being killed all the time?” the Knesset’s finance committee chairman, Moshe Gafni, who leads an Orthodox party in Mr. Netanayhu’s coalition, said. “We need some kind of Trump here to come and say we are bringing back the hostages, stopping all these things.”Other coalition members oppose ending the Gaza war. “We need to give an ultimatum to Hamas,” the internal security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, told Kann news Thursday. “We tell them, ‘You’ve seen what we did in Iran,’ and make them choose: Either you return all the hostages, or the gates of hell will open on you.” He added that all Hamas leaders in Gaza must be killed or exiled before the war ends. Mr. Trump’s public call to end Mr. Netanyahu’s trials might shore up his coalition. The premier’s opposition, meanwhile, accuses him of continuing the Gaza war to avoid facing justice. Yet their calculations could change too if hostages are returned and the Abraham Accords widen. Mr. Trump might feel personal kinship with the Israeli leader’s judicial travails. Then again, he could believe that ending Mr. Netanyahu’s trials could be the first step toward a new Mideast.

Trump Calls for Israel To End Legal Cases Against Netanyahu, as Mideast Political Landscape Looks Set To Shift After Victory Over Iran

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