President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he departs the White House, June 2, 2019. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)
Trump weighed in on the new Israeli elections saying “Israel is all messed up” and needs to “get their act together.”
By World Israel News Staff and AP
President Donald Trump says Israel needs to “get their act together” after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was unable to form a new governing coalition and a second election was set for later this year.
“Israel is all messed up with their election. I mean, that came out of the blue three days ago,” Trump said.
“Bibi got elected. Now all of a sudden they have to go through the process again through September? That’s ridiculous. So we’re not happy about that,” the president said.
Trump referred to that fact that Netanyahu was foiled in his attempt to form a coalition government, largely due to his failure to convince Avigdor Liberman of the Israel Beiteinu party to join, denying five vital Knesset seats he need to garner a majority in the Knesset.
As a result, Netanyahu gave the go-ahead for the Knesset to dissolve itself on Wednesday forcing new elections, which will take place on Sept. 17.
“We’re doing our best to help the Middle East get a peace plan,” Trump said, noting that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo may be right in assessing that the administration’s forthcoming Mideast peace plan may not go anywhere. A Washington Post report quoted Pompeo as telling a group of Jewish leaders in New York that the long-delayed plan may not “gain traction.”
The Trump administration had waited to roll out their peace plan until after a new Israeli government had been formed with plans for a Bahrain conference set for June where the economic benefits of the deal were to be revealed.
Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, and Trump negotiator Jason Greenblatt toured the Middle East last week to build support ahead of the conference. On May 30, they were in Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They also met with the kings of Morocco and Jordan.
Trump told reporters, “I think we have a good chance, but we’ll see what happens.”
Trump spoke Sunday as he prepared to fly to Europe.
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