Right-wing Israeli settlers enthusiastic over Trump admin. picks
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Israeli settlers are strongly in favor of US President Donald Trump's picks for his incoming administration due to their pro-Israeli and pro-settlement expansion stances.
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A general view of the West Bank Israeli settlement of Efrat, occupied Palestine Tuesday, November 12, 2024 (AP)
Rightwing Israeli settlers and nationalist Zionists have expressed enthusiastic support for nominations in US-President elect Donald Trump's incoming administration, seeing it as an unprecedented chance to expand the Israeli presence in the occupied territories and effectively end any possibility of a Palestinian state, The Guardian reported Sunday.
Trump's nomination of pro-settlement officials is viewed by some as a "dream team" that could significantly reshape the region, with many activists calling it a "unique and special opportunity" for "Israel".
The response from Palestinian groups and left-leaning NGOs within the occupation entity has been one of alarm. Many fear that Trump's outspoken support for far-right Israeli views would embolden Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to push ahead with aggressive settlement expansion.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz issued a stark warning, stating, "The series of appointments announced by US President-elect Donald Trump should worry everyone who cares about Israel's future."
Since the US election, Israeli authorities have intensified demolitions of Palestinian homes in East al-Quds and the West Bank, territories occupied since 1967. In al-Bustan, East al-Quds, nine homes were demolished recently, leaving numerous families homeless.
Longtime activist Fakhri Abu Diab condemned the demolitions, accusing authorities of attempting to drive Palestinians from their land. "This is just a way to punish us and make us leave," he said, adding that the recent demolitions left 40 people, including children, without shelter. His wife, Amina, echoed his concerns, saying that with Trump in power, "there is nothing to restrain Israel."
The Israeli-controlled al-Quds municipality, however, cited zoning laws as the reason for the demolitions, claiming the buildings were "illegally constructed" on public land.
Worse to come under Trump
Israeli rights group Ir Amim argued that the real purpose of these demolitions is to connect Israeli settler pockets within Palestinian neighborhoods to West al-Quds. It warned that this pattern "could serve as a portent of what is to come" under Trump's administration.
The optimism among the occupation's far-right factions extends to pro-settlement parties in the coalition government, the most rightwing in its history.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, an outspoken supporter of expanded settlements, recently announced that 2025 would mark the "year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria," referring to the West Bank using the biblical terms favored by rightwing Israelis and their American allies. This ambition signals a potential move toward annexing the occupied territories.
The expansion of Israeli settlements has surged amid the ongoing aggression on Gaza which has killed over 43,000 people. Meanwhile, far-right officials, including Smotrich, attended a recent conference calling for the reestablishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza, further amplifying pro-settlement ambitions, which Trump strongly favors.
Trump's new appointees reflect a deeply supportive stance toward "Israel's" expansionist policies. The nominee for secretary of state, Republican Senator Marco Rubio, has taken a hardline position, opposing a ceasefire in Gaza and urging "Israel" to dismantle Hamas.
More extremists
The proposed ambassador to the Israeli occupation entity, Mike Huckabee, a vocal supporter of Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, has consistently called the two-state solution "unworkable."
Huckabee also advocates for the City of David Foundation, a government-funded archeological park managed by Elad, a settler group accused of displacing Palestinian families in East al-Quds. An EU report in 2018 criticized Elad's projects, arguing they serve as a "political tool" to alter the historical narrative and legitimize settlements.
Some far-right activists have compared Trump to King Cyrus of ancient Persia, who permitted Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem. Daniel Luria, spokesperson for the NGO Ateret Cohanim, called Trump's administration a "very unique situation" with the potential to "create a new Middle East and readjust everything."
Ateret Cohanim is known for controversial projects that involve displacing Palestinian families to make way for Israeli settlers in East al-Quds.
'No West Bank, no occupation'
Among Trump's new appointees, Huckabee and Rubio are especially praised by pro-settlement advocates for their refusal to acknowledge the West Bank as occupied.
Huckabee's 2017 remarks during a visit to occupied Palestine, where he denied the existence of a West Bank or an occupation altogether, are cited by settlers as evidence of the administration's commitment to their nationalist Zionist cause.
Trump's previous administration laid a strong foundation for this pro-Israeli occupation stance by recognizing al-Quds as "Israel's" capital, relocating the US embassy there, and acknowledging Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
Pro-settlement activists are optimistic that Trump's second term will push even further, with figures like Luria asserting, "They've spoken about Jews having the right to live everywhere, that it's impossible to divide [al-Quds] into two … and that comes from a biblical background. Just like I see King David and Abraham, they see them also."
As the Trump administration moves into power, both supporters and critics agree that US policy would likely intensify Israeli settlement expansion, pushing the region toward significant changes and possibly ending long-standing hopes for a two-state solution.
Muslims disappointed
Muslim leaders in the United States who supported Republican Donald Trump in protest of the Biden administration's backing for the Israeli war on Gaza and Lebanon are now disappointed that Trump has selected a cabinet widely made up of pro-"Israel" figures.
"Trump won because of us, and we're not happy with his secretary of state pick and others," said Rabiul Chowdhury, a Philadelphia businessman who headed the Abandon Harris campaign in Pennsylvania and co-founded Muslims for Trump.
Muslim backing for Trump helped him win Michigan and may have contributed to other swing state victories, analysts say.
According to Rexhinaldo Nazarko, executive director of the American Muslim Engagement and Empowerment Network (AMEEN), Muslim voters anticipated Trump would appoint cabinet people who promote peace, but there was little evidence of this.
