Likud minister vows to ‘push back’ against Trump’s promised price for embassy move

Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi says Israel will “push back against dictates or pressure” after US President Donald Trump said that it will pay “a higher price” in peace talks with the Palestinians due to his recognition of the city as the Jewish state’s capital.

“There is no need to worry,” Hanegbi says in a Facebook post. “If the Palestinians return to the negotiating table… we will know how to stand up for our own interests and push back against and dictates or pressure.”

Hanegbi nonetheless says, “The fundamental principles [over future negotiations] that have been presented by Prime Minister Netanyahu are accepted by the Trump administration.”

According to those principles, which Hanegbi says have vast support among the Israeli public, “under any future deal, only Israel will have responsibility in all of the Judea and Samaria area [the West Bank], and Jerusalem will be our eternal capital.”

— Raoul Wootliff