- Most Israeli politicians remain quiet over the outcome of the US election, but media commentators speculate over the implications for Israel and the region.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed all the Likud ministers not to speak publicly about the issue until the final results are in. Minister Tzahi Hanegbi was one of the politicians to comment and said in an interview to Kan Radio News that if Democrat Joe Biden were to return to the JCPOA nuclear deal, it could lead to a confrontation between Israel and Iran.
- This morning in Yediot Ahronot, Sima Kadmon writes that “a defeat for Trump, if one should take place, is a severe blow for the prime minister, but not necessarily for Israel”. Kadmon says that the results of the US election could have an impact on whether Netanyahu decides to go for early elections in Israel: “Trump’s re-election for a second term is an important factor in this decision. Netanyahu fears that if Biden should be elected, the new administration would manoeuvre him and try to influence Israeli public opinion … people in his own party say that Netanyahu’s motivation for dragging Israel to an election will be greatly diminished now. Unless he decides on a swift election and takes advantage of Trump’s presence in the White House until January 20.”
- In Maariv, Anna Barksy quotes a senior cabinet official who agrees that a Biden victory will decrease the chances of early elections. “Biden’s potential election would substantially lower the odds of early elections. This time it’ll be like in the Obama years — if the Democrats rise to power in the United States, Netanyahu will need a broad government, a sort of flak jacket, and the Blue and White and Labour Party members of the government constitute a very good flak jacket. It doesn’t make sense to dissolve the unity government now and form a narrow right-wing government. Yamina and Naftali Bennett aren’t exactly the right partner when you have a Democratic president in the White House.”
- Meanwhile, in Israel Hayom, Boaz Bismuth argues: “Even if Trump is defeated, the legacy he carved out in his four years in office is guaranteed. The Republicans will make sure to preserve his achievements and the United States will make sure to hold on to the assets he procured for it, some of which are very important to Israel, too.”
- Zohar Palti, director of the Political-Military Bureau in the Defence Ministry, gave an exclusive interview to Yediot Ahronot in which he reassured,”Intimate security relations with the United States will be maintained – no matter who sits in the White House… Israel’s qualitative advantage will be preserved for decades to come.”
Coronavirus Update: Israel reopening street side shops on Sunday
Health Ministry reported 560 new cases of coronavirus have been detected in the past 24 hours out of 32,102 coronavirus tests. There are currently 8,958 active coronavirus carriers in Israel. There are 327 patients in serious condition and 147 patients are on ventilators Meanwhile, Health Ministry officials said that they were afraid that reopening street side shops on Sunday would precipitate a third lockdown. The reproduction number has continued to climb and is now 0.92, which is very close to reversing the trend from morbidity stabilizing to morbidity spreading.
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