Trump could roll out mutual defense agreement between US, Israel prior to elections to help Netanyahu
(Worthy News) – Trump is in talks with Benjamin Netanyahu about giving the Israeli premier another boost ahead of elections on September 17, comparable to the US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights that preceded the April election contest by two weeks.
According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, a “dramatic diplomatic gesture” is in the works, which could involve as much as a mutual defense agreement binding the US and Israel to come to the aid of the other in the case of an existential threat, or as little as a declaration from Trump that the US is committed to defending Israel during his tenure.
“I have every confidence this president who moved our embassy and who made clear Israel’s rights in the Golan Heights will do all that is necessary to ensure that our great partner in Israel will be protected,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt last week.
The idea of a “defense pact” between Israel and the US, long discussed and then shelved in US and Israeli foreign policy circles, was revived by Senator Lindsey Graham in April at a meeting of the Republic Jewish Coalition when he called for the creation of a mutual defense treaty in which “an attack against Israel would be considered an attack against the United States.”
Haaretz reports that only the announcement of such a pact would arrive before Israeli election re-dos at the end of the month, while the deal itself would take several months to negotiate.