Trump talks peace in Israel
President also denies giving info to Russians
• Donald Trump hailed a “rare opportunity” for peace in the Middle East during his first visit to Israel Monday, saying the shared threat of Iran could unite the Jewish state with its Arab neighbours and propel an agreement with the Palestinians.
On the third day of his trip, which included the first visit to the Western Wall by a sitting president, Trump said Iran was the main source of instability in the region and urged Israel to come together with its Arab neighbours to confront the Islamic Republic.
“There is a growing realization among your Arab neighbours that they have common cause with you in the threat posed by Iran,” Trump said. “What’s happened with Iran has brought many other parts of the Middle East towards Israel.”
He also defended himself against allegations he revealed classified information to Russian diplomats. Trump said he “never mentioned the word or the name Israel” in his conversation with Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador. “So you have another story wrong,” he told journalists.
Several reports last week claimed Trump shared Israeli intelligence with Russia about the threat posed by the Islamic State.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, insisted U.S.-Israeli intelligence sharing had “never been better.”
Netanyahu also endorsed the idea of Arab-Israeli cooperation against Iran, saying it would “help reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians.”
Trump’s broadsides against Iran in Israel and a day earlier in Saudi Arabia come days after Iranian voters re-elected their relatively moderate president Hassan Rouhani and rejected a hardline candidate who favoured a more confrontational approach to the West. At his first press conference since his election victory, Rouhani dismissed the anti-Iranian tenor of the summit in Saudi Arabia as “just a show.”
The first day of Trump’s visit in Israel was heavy on symbolism but offered few details on how he hopes to clinch “the ultimate deal” — an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. He will give a speech Tuesday.
Trump will also travel to Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, where he will meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
Both Israelis and Palestinians made goodwill gestures ahead of the president’s arrival, with Israel offering some economic benefits for the West Bank and the Palestinians signalling they were open to more extensive land swaps than previously discussed. But officials on both sides said they were still waiting to understand Trump’s plan for trying to broker peace talks.
Back in Washington, Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in rebuffing a subpoena Monday in the investigation into Russia’s election meddling.
Flynn’s lawyers claimed an “escalating public frenzy” against the former aide justified declining the subpoena for his records.