United States: Joe Biden congratulated by Mahmoud Abbas and Benyamin Netanyahu late

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (l.) And Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu (r.).

REUTERS / Mohamad Torokman / Sebastian Scheiner / Pool

Text by: RFI Follow

4 min

Among all the congratulations that came after the announced victory of the Democratic candidate on Saturday, November 7, there were two that were particularly late.

They are those of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister and Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority.

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With our correspondent in Jerusalem,

All evening and night, Benjamin Netanyahu remained silent as

messages

followed one another.

Not a word from the Israeli Prime Minister until Sunday morning at 7:30 a.m.

That is more than twelve hours after the announcement of the results of the presidential election in Pennsylvania.

The embarrassment of someone close to Trump

This silence is a sign of embarrassment on the part of Benyamin Netanyahu.

The Israeli Prime Minister is close to Donald Trump.

He was claiming his friendship with him, even campaigning on his ties to the outgoing president.

Donald Trump has made many decisions favorable to Israel.

But, since Donald Trump does not recognize his defeat, to congratulate Joe Biden quickly was to take the risk of appearing like a coward ... even though Donald Trump is still president for more than two months.

But this silence was severely criticized by the Leader of the Opposition.

Yaïr Lapid denounced Saturday evening "

" of the executive.

Because the declared proximity of Benjamin Netanyahu with Donald Trump could have consequences on the support of the Democrats to Israel.

One wing of the party is increasingly critical of Israeli politics.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris remain supporters of Israel.

But this long silence of Benyamin Netanyahu was certainly noted in the entourage of the elected president.

העובדה שנתניהו, גנץ ואשכנזי לא בירכו עדיין את נשיא ארה"ב הנבחר היא פחדנות מבישה שפוגעת באינטרסים של מדינת ישראל. אם נשיא צרפת, קנצלרית גרמניה כוראש י י י י י י י י י י

  יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) November 7, 2020

Expectations and even mistrust on the Palestinian side

The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, also took his time to send his congratulations.

He called on Joe Biden to "

" US-Palestinian relations, after the reign of Donald Trump, which shifted his policy in favor of Israel.

And the PLO, the organization for the liberation of Palestine, did not send a congratulatory message to Joe Biden either.

The Palestinian leadership severed ties with the United States after Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel three years ago.

She therefore chose not to speak directly to the elected president.

On the other hand, one of the PLO executives rejoiced last night at the defeat of Donald Trump.

"

" Hanane

wrote on Twitter.

And she believes that "

" to heal the wounds of "

 ”.

Words that also have a warning value.

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With this very cautious reaction, the Palestinian leadership stresses that it remains very cautious, that it does not welcome the elected president with open arms and that Joe Biden will have to convince, will have to prove himself before the United States can be reconsidered as the mediator of the conflict by the Palestinians.

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• United States

• Joe biden

• Benjamin Netanyahu

• Israel

• Palestinian territories

• USA Elections 2020

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