Day 463 - Israel's wish list for US President-elect Trump

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute
audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and
the Jewish world.


Senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan
for a bonus episode of our weekly What Matters Now series.


This week, a committee appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu to examine defense spending and IDF military force
design for the future announced that the election of Donald Trump
as US president offers an unprecedented opportunity to remove the
threat Israel faces from Iran.


Trump’s return to the White House, said the Nagel Committee on
Monday, “creates, for the first time, the potential for a
fundamental change, and the removal or meaningful reduction of
the Iranian threat.”


Likewise this week, incoming US envoy to the Middle East Steve
Witkoff announced that he would travel to Doha, saying a hostage
deal being mediated by Qatar is on the verge of completion, as
Trump again warned “all hell will break loose” in the region if
an agreement between Israel and Hamas is not reached by his
January 20 inauguration.


We all know that Trump is one to talk tough, but the question is
-- how much of this rhetoric will translate into action? And will
he aid Israel in its effort to prevent a nuclear Iran?


For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s
ongoing live blog.


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IMAGE: US President Donald Trump (left) and Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands at the Israel Museum in
Jerusalem, May 23, 2017. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner, File)


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