Fawaz Gerges, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics, said Netanyahu was “definitely betting on Donald Trump” after “running the clock on Joe Biden.”

Gerges said he feared that under Trump, Washington, already Israel’s largest arms supplier, was “basically giving Netanyahu everything he wants — in particular, the green light not only to continue the war at Gaza and Lebanon, but even to intensify the fight against Iran itself.” .” US spending on Israeli military operations has already reached more than $17.9 billion between October 7 of last year and September 30, according to Brown University. Costs of War Project.

Recalling Trump’s 2016 presidency, Gerges said in a telephone interview Tuesday that the Republican had already shown his willingness “to go beyond the call of duty to give Netanyahu his all,” including his decision controversial to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and its recognition of the Israeli state. sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights.

Despite these concerns, Gerges said the general feeling in the Arab world was that ultimately it does not matter “who wins the White House” since “American foreign policy is historically tied to Israel.”

Many Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where Israel believes Trump’s victory will mean more freedom to expand settlements, appear to share this sentiment.

“As a Palestinian, I don’t think it matters,” said Riyad Awad, 61, on Wednesday in Ramallah, in the central West Bank. “Republicans or Democrats, they didn’t help us.”

In video captured by the NBC News team on the ground in Gaza, Palestinians could be seen gathered in a makeshift shelter in Khan Younis watching election results appear on a television screen.

Some expressed deep concern about Trump’s victory, while others were curious about whether he might ultimately be the right person to end the fighting after months of failed U.S. efforts.

“He said he would end the war,” said Hussam Alsharif, 19, who was displaced from his home further south in Gaza by the Israeli offensive. “He’s a man of his word. Once he takes the lead, no one can do anything but obey him.

Ukraine praises public

Ukraine sought to show the same lack of concern about how the outcome could transform America’s approach to the war in Europe.

Trump has said he would be able to resolve the Russian invasion even before taking office, which would surely require huge concessions that kyiv finds unacceptable. He praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and wrongly blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for starting the war, while refusing to commit to sending more aid to the struggling country.

Trump will make “attempts to appease the aggressor,” meaning Russia, said Maksym Kostetskyi, director of the Center for Policy Making, a kyiv-based think tank. “I fear that this will have negative effects on Ukrainian society,” he said, because talking about negotiations while Russia is on the offensive is “absolutely unacceptable.”

Still, Zelensky publicly welcomed Trump’s victory, saying he looked forward to an “era of a strong United States of America under the decisive leadership of President Trump.”