JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday he wants relations with the United States to be “stronger than ever” after Donald Trump becomes president.

Netanyahu congratulated his “friend” Trump in a tweet before his inauguration, saying he was looking forward “to working closely with you to make the alliance between Israel&USA stronger than ever”.

Meanwhile, Israel’s left­wing newspaper Haaretz reported on Friday that security services have presented Netanyahu with a series of scenarios about potential Palestinian violence if Trump follows through on his promise to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Such a transfer would break with the consensus of the vast majority of the international community, which does not recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Israel captured east Jerusalem during the 1967 war and later annexed it, declaring all of the city its unified capital.

Published in Dawn January 21st, 2017