Washington: US President-elect Donald Trump has met with Ron Dermer, a consultant to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to discuss the Middle East crisis and the US future actions on the matter, the Axios news portal reported on Tuesday, citing two Israeli officials and two US officials with knowledge of the meeting.
Dermer met with Trump in his Florida residence, Mar-a-Largo, on Sunday to pass messages from Netanyahu and brief the president-elect on Israel’s plans in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran.
“One of the things the Israelis wanted to sort out with Trump is what are the issues he prefers to see solved before January 20 and what are the issues he prefers the Israelis to wait for him,” a US official told the portal.
The Israeli side reportedly wanted Trump’s opinion on several issues, including post-war plans for Gaza, a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, and the normalization of Israeli-Saudi relations.
The Biden administration has been notified of the meeting in advance, they added.
Trump, who had already served as US president after the 2016 election, won the presidential election on November 5. He became the first politician in the United States since the 19th century to return to the White House after a four-year hiatus. All leading media outlets involved in vote counting, including the Associated Press, Fox News, CNN, NBC, ABC, and CBS, announced Trump’s victory. Democratic candidate Kamala Harris addressed supporters and announced that she would concede, while incumbent US President Joe Biden spoke with Trump and congratulated him.
The Electoral College from the states must vote for candidates in accordance with the will of the voters on December 17, and the new Congress will certify the results of the vote on January 6. The inauguration will take place on January 20.
