Donald Trump’s controversial and unexpected presidential victory saw the inevitable flurry of stories on how his win might affect Israeli-Palestinian affairs.
The ABC website was quick off the mark running an analysis from Lebanese American University’s Lina Abirafeh (Nov. 10), who wrote Trump “has said he will build a wall along the Mexican border…he will do no favours to the people living behind the world’s most tragic wall – in Palestine. Trump [said] he would use the US Security Council veto to scupper any United Nations deal on a settlement between Israel and Palestine.”
It’s a fence, not a wall, which was necessitated by Palestinian suicide bombings. Trump promised to veto one-sided resolutions that grant Palestinians statehood without needing to make peace.
On ABC Radio “AM” (Nov. 10), Beirut-based ABC correspondent Matt Brown reported on the regional response to the election outcome, noting that, “Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent the region’s warmest congratulations.”
ABC Jerusalem-based correspondent Sophie McNeill’s online article (Nov. 14) focused on Israeli and Palestinian reaction to Trump’s victory.
Read the media assessment by Allon Lee at the Australia-Israel Review.