Israel’s envoy to the United Nations said Monday that it doesn’t matter if the new U.S. president wants to take a neutral position in any future Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, because the Palestinians have no interest in talking anyway.
Ambassador Danny Danon was asked repeatedly whether Israel can accept Donald Trump’s claim that he would be neutral in those talks. But on “Morning Joe” Monday, Danon said what Trump thinks is irrelevant.
“[W]hat we have known in the last few years is that unfortunately, we don’t see any viable partner,” Danon said. “So it doesn’t matter who will be the candidate, who will be the president.”
“So that’s why we care about what will happen with the Palestinians in the future, rather who will be in the White House,” he added.
Panelists tried three times to get Danon to say what he thought of Trump’s plan, which some have criticized as treating the Israelis and Palestinians as equals in any future talks. Conservatives have said Trump’s position ignores the wave of terrorist attacks that Palestinians have launched against Israel.
Trump has insisted that in order to get a deal done, he’d want to enter the situation as neutrally as possible. But Danon again said Trump would likely find he wouldn’t even be able to get to the table.
“We do not intervene in the political system here in the U.S., but basically, I think any president will find out that it doesn’t matter what he wants to achieve,” he said. “You need to get the Palestinians back into the negotiation room, and it’s not going to happen in the near future.”
Danon spoke just before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee was set to hear from Trump, Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz and John Kasich at its annual policy conference in Washington. He said the group expects to hear “all of them” talking about the peace process.
