Trumps influence over Netanyahu helped get Israel cease-fire deal back on track, sources say: Keep Trump happy
President-elect Donald Trump’s tough diplomacy lingered large over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s swift action on Thursday to get the country’s cease-fire deal back on track after internal tensions delayed the Israeli cabinet’s vote, sources told The Post.Trump’s hard-nosed, no-nonsense approach to the war — telling Hamas “all hell will break loose” if they don’t release the hostages and sending his Mideast envoy to pressure Netanyahu to take the deal on Saturday — instilled a determination in the prime minister not previously seen during the 16 months the Biden administration attempted to single-handedly push a peace agreement.“Keep[ing] Trump happy” has become a national prerogative in Israel, which fears that the soon-to-be US president’s “unflinching support for Israel were to suddenly flinch,” a diplomat for the Jewish state told CNN.What’s more, former Knesset member Ruth Wasserman Lande told The Post that Trump has “tremendous influence over Bibi [Netanyahu.]”A key reason is because Trump’s bold pro-Israel moves during his first term garnered “leverage” over Netanyahu, Israeli officials have told The Post.During his first tenure, he made the US the only nation to recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory and moved the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — two major wins for conservative Israelis.Now, there is hushed neuroticism that favor could run out — though Trump has appointed “the most pro-Israel American candidate” for the US ambassadorship in former Arkansas Gov.
Mike Huckabee, some Israeli officials told The Post.Trump had a “huge impact” because he “forced” Steve Witkoff on Netanyahu, telling him, “We have to meet and we have to speak.No more games, no games,” a source close to the Israeli government said.Partially proving that point is that Netanyahu had previously been opposed to a very similar cease-fire arrangement brokered last year under the Biden admini...