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ARCHBISHOP
Biden Win A Set Back
Joe Biden’s US election win marks a setback for Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump — but it could spur renewed engagement between Washington and the Palestinians, experts said.Netanyahu called Trump Israel’s strongest-ever ally in the White House, and the Republican advanced policies that delighted the Israeli prime minister’s right-wing base.Netanyahu congratulated Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris on Twitter Sunday, before thanking Trump for a raft of moves that, according to Netanyahu, advanced Israel’s interests.Trump unilaterally pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — an agreement between Tehran and world powers loathed by Netanyahu — and recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s “undivided†capital.He also endorsed Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights — which was seized from Syria — and avoided criticising Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.According to a pre-vote poll by the Israel Democracy Institute think-tank, 63 percent of Israelis wanted Trump to win a second term.After the US result was announced, 28-year-old Israeli truck driver Shmuel Nemirovski told AFP that even though “Trump would have been better†he was comfortable with Biden because the president-elect does not appear “to have anything against Israelâ€.In fact, Biden’s ties with Israel run deep and he has been a vocal supporter of the Jewish state for decades.He visited Israel in 1973, just months after he was first elected to the Senate.In a 2015 speech, while serving as Barack Obama’s vice president, Biden said the United States was wedded to a “sacred promise to protect the homeland of the Jewish peopleâ€.During the 2012 vice-presidential debate, when Biden was facing criticism over the Obama administration’s treatment of Israel from Republican Paul Ryan, Biden asserted that he and Netanyahu had “been friends for 39 yearsâ€.Netanyahu on Sunday praised Biden as “a great friend of Israel†with whom he has had “a long and warm personal relationshipâ€.– Tensions looming? -But Biden is expected to reverse much of Trump’s record, notable on West Bank settlement construction.The president-elect has said he views Jewish communities in the occupied Palestinian territory as an obstacle to peace.Israel’s former envoy to Washington Michael Oren told AFP that tensions will spike if Biden seeks to revive the Iran nuclear deal, a prospect he said had a “very high†likelihood.“Netanyahu will be perceived as the person who failed to stop the Iran agreement — in 2015 and in 2021,†he said, referring to domestic perceptions of the Israeli premier.Netanyahu, and much of Israel’s security establishment, blasted the Iran deal for offering an arch-foe massive financial benefits while failing to eliminate the threat of a nuclear-armed Islamic republic.Iran insists its nuclear programme is strictly for civilian purposes.A Biden effort to restore the pact with Iran pact could also affect Trump-brokered normalisation deals between Israel the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, said Eytan Gilboa, political science professor at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University.The UAE, Bahrain and especially Saudi Arabia — Sunni Muslim led states — are bitter rivals of Shiite majority Iran.Experts have said that the normalisation deals as well as warming ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia under Trump were partly driven by a desire to forge a united front against Iran.“The Iranians are going to say you cannot have it both ways: you cannot have negotiation with us, and at the same time help to expand the coalition that is basically against us,†Gilboa said.– BDS -Israeli officials are also concerned that Israel critics in the Democratic Party will have influence over Biden’s administration, Gilboa said.Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, tipped for a possible cabinet post, has called Netanyahu a “reactionary racistâ€.Israel has meanwhile accused two Democratic congresswomen, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, of supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians.According to Gilboa, “the progressive, radical branch of the Democratic party†is “anti-Israel†and gaining strength.“We don’t know yet how much influence they will have on policy making,†he said.– Initial Palestinian reactions -Under Trump, relations between Washington and the Palestinian Authority collapsed.Trump cut funding to the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and rejected the notion that Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem should serve as the capital of a future Palestinian state, among other dramatic policy shifts profile/7458FB_IMG_15948945359357778.jpg
ARCHBISHOP
Umahi Was Decieve Into Political Wilderness, PDP Declears
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, declared that Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, has been misled into political wilderness, saying the situation may ruin his political career.Inaugurating the PDP Caretaker Committee for Ebonyi State in Abuja, it also vowed to stop plans to frustrate its chances of remaining in power in the Southeast.Deputy National Chairman of the PDP (North), Suleiman Nazif, who inaugurated the committee on behalf of the National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, wondered why Governor Umahi agreed to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC), which he said, has no grassroots support in the Southeast.“What has happened in Ebonyi State is unfortunate. A governor the people of Ebonyi, especially the PDP worked to install has been deceived. And he has left the home that he has always known. And now he is wandering. And he will continue to wander until he comes back home.“What the Abuja powers are trying to do is to edge out PDP from the Southeast, but they cannot do that. We admire the Southeast people, because they have contributed immensely to the development of Nigeria. The PDP will continue to be a household name in Ebonyi,†he stated.Nazif, who predicted the political misfortune of Governor Umahi, said: “We are wondering why the governor left PDP and went to the wilderness. I cannot see what he has gone there to do. I cannot see what APC will give him that he does not have in PDP.“But sometimes people get blinded and when they are blinded they cannot see. They are going to finish him there and he will come back here.â€The inauguration ceremony brought Ebonyi PDP leaders together as they vowed to ensure that the party remained strong in the state.Chairman of the 10-member committee, Hon. Fred Udeogu, lamented that Umahi disappointed those who made him governor, saying: “I can assure you that Governor Umahi was installed by 100 per cent of those of us gathered here today.“So, on behalf of our members, we assure you that we will win the state as we have been doing. We will deliver Ebonyi 100 per cent to PDP and we appreciate the National Working Committee (NWC).â€A former President of the Senate, Anyim Pius Anyim, former Governor Sam Egwu, senators Obinna Ogba and Sylvanus Ngele, among other party leaders attended the ceremony. Also yesterday, the party’s NWC appointed Chief Ali Odefa Chairman of the reconstituted Southeast Zonal Caretaker Committee and named Hon. Laz Ogbei auditor.This, it said, was pursuant to Sections 29 (2)(b) and 31(2)(e) of the PDP Constitution 2017 (as amended), adding that the Caretaker Committee would pilot the affairs of the party in the Southeast Zone for a period not exceeding three months (90) days as stipulated in section 32(2)(e) of the constitution.It enjoined all members of the party in the Southeast to continue to work together harmoniously. 
