Israel hopes Trump win builds Middle East ties, official says

Israel is hoping Donald Trump’s return to the White House will lead to more cooperation in the Middle East, both on diplomacy and climate issues, an Israeli official said.

A landmark deal that normalized Israeli relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and others was signed toward the end of Trump’s last presidency. His return to office raises hopes of similar agreements with other states in the region, said Gideon Behar, Israel’s special envoy for climate change and sustainability.

“We hope that it’ll continue also during his second term in office,” Behar said in a Bloomberg TV interview Thursday at the COP29 summit in Azerbaijan. “Definitely we would like to enlarge our cooperation in the region and create more resilience.”

Still, anger toward Israel has soared since the war in Gaza began in October last year. Many Arab states insist Israel needs to end the conflict and start negotiations about an independent Palestinian state before they deepen ties with the Israeli government.

Israel and Saudi Arabia were working toward establishing closer ties before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel halted progress.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon.

Speaking Thursday evening, Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that over the past week, Israel had “struck more than 300 targets from the air across Lebanon, including about 40 targets in the heart of the Dahiyeh in Beirut.”

Behar also said Israel is looking for deeper alliance with the Trump administration on energy and climate.

“We’re going to cooperate with the United States in every aspect, on climate, on water, on agriculture, on renewable energy,” he said.