Netanyahu stalling Middle East settlement due to US election – CNN

Few doubt that the Israeli prime minister sees Republican nominee Donald Trump as “a close ally,” the network has reported

The US is unlikely to achieve a breakthrough in resolving the Middle East conflict before the November 5 presidential election, leaving the topic “a serious political liability” for the administration of US President Joe Biden and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, CNN has reported.

The latest round of the regional escalation came on Saturday, when Israel launched a flurry of strikes on Iranian military facilities in retaliation for Tehran’s missile barrage on the Jewish state earlier this month. At the time, Iran cited a string of assassinations of senior Hezbollah officials, including its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, as the reason for the attack.

According to the network, while the exchange did not escalate into a full-scale war, – which was apparently Biden’s “worst-case scenario,” – “the larger knot that is the Middle East conflict remains as firmly gnarled as ever.”

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Unnamed officials interviewed by CNN said that US, Israeli, and Qatari diplomats are scheduled to meet in Doha for talks on an agreement on releasing the hostages taken by the Hamas militant group into Gaza and reaching a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave. However, US officials reportedly believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who “is intimately familiar with and tracking the ins and outs of the presidential election in the US,” does not want to make any serious decisions on the matter until he knows the winner of the race for the White House.

Netanyahu also does not see much incentive to end his other operations before the election, the article said, adding that there is little question in the minds of US officials that the Israeli leader “sees former President Donald Trump… as a close ally.”

The Republican nominee has previously claimed to have almost daily conversations with the Israeli prime minister, describing their relationship as “very good.” The Washington Post reported last week, citing sources, that during one of those calls, Trump told Netanyahu to “do what you have to do,” referring to Israel’s attacks on Hamas and Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, reports claim that Biden has made numerous attempts to pressure Israel to limit the scope of its attacks on Iran, especially when it comes to Tehran’s nuclear facilities. Other media outlets have described the relationship between the two leaders as “complicated,” with US journalist Bob Woodward claiming that the president had called Netanyahu a “liar” over his handling of the Gaza conflict, while threatening to cut military aid to the Jewish state.