Israeli national flags flutter near office towers at a business park also housing high tech companies, at Ofer Park in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 27, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Israelis prefer normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia along with the creation of a Palestinian state over the annexation of the West Bank, new polling shows.

The poll, released by the aChord Research Institute at Hebrew University, found that given the choice to “promote a regional political-security arrangement that includes normalization with Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, and agreeing to establish a Palestinian state” or to “promote full annexation of the West Bank,” 60 percent of Israelis prefer the former while 31 percent prefer the latter.

Another 9 percent said they were unsure.

The newly released poll was conducted last month, as US President Donald Trump returned to the White House. 

During his first term as president, Trump’s administration brokered the Abraham Accords, agreements between Israel and numerous Arab states to normalize relations. However, Saudi Arabia was not one of them, and both Washington and Jerusalem have seen Israeli-Saudi normalization as a key goal to foster greater peace, stability, and prosperity in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that Riyadh would not establish ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state. The statement came one day after Trump said the United States would take over Gaza after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere and develop it economically. No Arab country has expressed willingness to take in Palestinians from Gaza.

Some observers have speculated that Trump’s comments are designed to act as leverage in negotiations concerning either the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal or Saudi Arabia establishing diplomatic relations with Israel.

As for the West Bank, a reporter asked Trump on Monday whether he supports Israel potentially annexing parts of the territory. Though Trump refused to answer the question directly, he seemed to indicate dissatisfaction with the size of Israel’s territorial boundaries, noting that the Jewish state is a “very small piece of land” and praising Israelis for their “amazing” accomplishments despite their country’s size.

Mike Huckabee, who Trump nominated to serve as the next US ambassador to Israel, has defended Israel’s right to build settlements in the West Bank, acknowledging the Jewish people’s ties to the land dating back to the ancient world.

Israelis who support annexing parts of the West Bank similarly note the Jewish people’s deep connection, both religiously and historically, to the land, as well as the fact that areas with well established settlements would likely be part of Israel under a two-state solution.

The two goals of Israeli-Saudi normalization and West Bank annexation are widely seen as mutually exclusive, as annexation would likely preclude many Arab states, most importantly Saudi Arabia, from considering normalization.

The Hebrew University poll also found that the majority of the Israeli public (55 percent) supports completing the hostage deal through all its phases and thus ending the war in Gaza. However, 59 percent also believe the deal damages Israel’s security situation, as thousands of terrorists will be released from Israeli prisons under the agreement.

There is also optimism about Trump entering office again. Sixty percent of Israelis say they believe he will act in Israel’s interests, according to the poll.

The post Israelis Prefer Saudi Normalization Along With Creation of Palestinian State Over West Bank Annexation: Poll first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Actor Wallace Shawn speaks about Israel to Jewish groups gathered at Columbus Circle on the first night of Hanukkah during an action dubbed “Hanukkah for Ceasefire” on Dec. 7, 2023 in New York City. Photo: Photo by Michael Nigro/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

Jewish actor Wallace Shawn, who is most famous for his roles in “Clueless,” the “Toy Story” franchise, and “The Princess Bride,” compared Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war to the war crimes committed by Nazis against Jews during World War II.

The New York-born actor and playwright, 81, said during an appearance on the podcast “The Katie Halper Show” on Monday that Israel is “doing evil just as great as what the Nazis did.”

“The Israelis invaded someone else’s territory. They took people’s homes and they did many of the things that the Nazis did to the Jews,” he claimed while speaking to Halper, a Jewish comedian and author. “And now they’re really doing it. You can’t be more evil than what they’re doing.”

“And in some ways it’s worse, because they kind of boast about it,” Shawn added. “Hitler had the decency to try to keep it secret. For some reason, Hitler didn’t want people to know he was doing these things to the Jews. The Israelis are almost proud of it, and it’s demonically evil. You can’t be more evil. And anybody who doesn’t recognize that it’s evil, I can’t properly communicate with that person. That might be temporary insanity.”

The “Young Sheldon” star has been a longtime critic of Israel and its military actions in Gaza during the war against Hamas terrorists controlling the enclave who orchestrated the deadly terrorist attack across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. After the massacre, he signed a letter from Artists4Ceasefire calling on former US President Joe Biden to push for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to end the war.

Shawn has repeatedly criticized US support for the Jewish state during the Israel-Hamas war. He accused Israel of “brutal occupation,” and of “massacring innocent people” and inflicting “deliberate cruelties” on Palestinians in Gaza. He has participated in rallies and events organized by the anti-Israel groups If Not Now and Jewish Voice for Peace, and is also a member of JVP’s advisory board.

During his appearance on Halper’s podcast, Shawn also accused Israel of “starving people, preventing children from getting medicine on purpose, and bombing hospitals” in Gaza. “If you don’t see that it’s evil to do those things to other human beings, then you’re in a different universe for me,” he argued

He additionally said, “I can imagine that some Israelis who are today in support of what their country is doing in Gaza or in the West Bank, even some of them might in 10 years wake up and say, ‘Why did I justify that?’ … Of course, [Israelis] must consciously or unconsciously know that every single day they are making the hatred increase. And the hatred level is something we can’t imagine.”

The post Jewish Actor Wallace Shawn Calls Israel ‘Demonically Evil,’ in ‘Some Ways Worse’ Than Nazis for Gaza War first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

US President Donald Trump speaks during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the East Room at the White House in Washington, US, Feb. 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday denied that the United States and Israel are planning to carry out a military strike on Iran, saying he instead wants to reach a “nuclear peace agreement” with Tehran as Iranian officials suggested differences over the Islamist regime’s nuclear program could be resolved.

“I want Iran to be a great and successful Country, but one that cannot have a Nuclear Weapon. Reports that the United States, working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens, ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

It was unclear to which reports Trump was referring. In recent weeks, many analysts have raised questions over whether Trump would support an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which both Washington and Jerusalem fear are meant to ultimately develop nuclear weapons.

“I would much prefer a Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement, which will let Iran peacefully grow and prosper,” he continued. “We should start working on it immediately, and have a big Middle East Celebration when it is signed and completed. God Bless the Middle East!”

Trump’s social media post came one day after he signed a presidential memorandum restoring his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran that includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero in order to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

As he signed the memo, Trump expressed a willingness to talk to the Iranian leader but added Tehran was “too close” to a nuclear weapon and “cannot” have one.

Later on Tuesday, Trump said that he would “love” to make a deal with Iran to improve bilateral relations — but added that the regime should not develop a nuclear bomb.

“I say this to Iran, who’s listening very intently, ‘I would love to be able to make a great deal. A deal where you can get on with your lives,’” Trump told reporters in Washington, DC. “They cannot have one thing. They cannot have a nuclear weapon, and if I think that they will have a nuclear weapon … I think that’s going to be very unfortunate for them.”

Iran has claimed that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes rather than building weapons. However, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reported in December that Iran had greatly accelerated uranium enrichment to up to 60 percent purity, close to the roughly 90 percent weapons-grade level, at its Fordow site dug into a mountain.

The UK, France, and Germany said in a statement at the time that there is no “credible civilian justification” for Iran’s recent nuclear activity, arguing it “gives Iran the capability to rapidly produce sufficient fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons.”

During his first term in the White House from 2017-2021, Trump pulled out of a 2015 agreement negotiated between Iran, the US under the Obama administration, and several world powers which placed temporary restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions. The Trump administration also reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran, with the goal of imposing “maximum pressure” on the Islamist regime in Tehran, which US intelligence agencies have long considered the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday that the reimposition of a policy of heavy pressure against Iran will end in “failure” as it did during Trump’s first presidential term.

“I believe that maximum pressure is a failed experiment and trying it again will turn into another failure,” Araghchi told reporters.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian echoed that point in a televised ceremony, downplaying the impact of sanctions on Iran.

“America threatens new sanctions, but Iran is a powerful and resource-rich country that can navigate challenges by managing its resources,” Pezeshkian said.

Meanwhile, Araghchi again claimed that Tehran is not pursuing nuclear weapons.

“If the main concern is that Iran should not pursue nuclear weapons, this is achievable and not a complicated issue,” he added. “Iran’s position is clear: it is a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the Supreme Leader’s fatwa has already clarified our stance [against weapons of mass destruction].”

Iran’s nuclear agency chief Mohammad Eslami similarly insisted that his country remains committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, saying, “Iran does not have, and will not have, a nuclear weapons program.”

However, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a leading coalition of Iranian dissident groups, revealed recently that the regime has covertly accelerated activities to construct nuclear weapons, including by ramping up efforts to construct nuclear warheads for solid-fuel missiles at two sites.

While it’s unclear whether Trump will be able to renegotiate a new nuclear deal, Iranian officials have expressed a willingness to engage in diplomacy.

“The clerical establishment’s will is to give diplomacy with Trump another chance, but Tehran is deeply concerned about Israel’s sabotage,” a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday. The official added that Iran wanted the US to “rein in Israel if Washington is seeking a deal” with the Islamic Republic.

Iranian officials, including top leaders, routinely declare their intention to destroy Israel. In recent months, however, the Israeli military has decimated two of Iran’s top terrorist proxies in the Middle East — Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon — and greatly compromised Iran’s air defenses in a military operation last year. Analysts have speculated that Iran’s current vulnerable position would make now an ideal time to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The post Trump Denies US-Israel Plan to Strike Iran, Calls for ‘Nuclear Peace Agreement’ While Reviving ‘Maximum Pressure’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.