By Bongiwe Dlamini

MBABANE: “Few expected United States President Donald Trump to abandon Israel during his second term in office, considering how supportive he had been of the Middle Eastern country in his first term,” writes Simon Speakman Cordall for Aljazeera.

“And yet, considering the still-mounting death toll from Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, and the international condemnation that has accompanied it, his continued full-throated support for Israel has unnerved some in the president’s base. To them, the support is doubly offensive in the face of a still struggling economy, a mounting affordability crisis, spiralling healthcare costs and a US government shutdown, all while US aid to Israel has continued without pause. That aid goes beyond the financial. It extends to blocking measures to criticise Israel at the UN, holding its leaders to account under international law, and even punishing those taking unilateral action against Israel, such as the International Criminal Court, which continues to be heavily sanctioned by the US,” Simon Speakman Cordall articulated in the opinion article.