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WEDNESDAY,SEPTEMBER11,2019| THEGLOBEANDMAILO NEWS | A

U.S. President Donald Trump on
Tuesday abruptly forced out John
Bolton, his hawkish national-se-
curity adviser with whom he had
strong disagreements on Iran,
Afghanistan and a cascade of oth-
er global challenges.
The sudden shakeup marked
the latest departure of a promi-
nent voice of dissent from the
President’s inner circle, as Mr.
Trump has grown less accepting
of advice contrary to his instincts.
It also comes at a trying moment
for Mr. Trump on the world stage,
weeks ahead of the United Na-
tions General Assembly and as
the President faces pressing deci-
sions on difficult foreign-policy is-
sues.
Tensions between Mr. Bolton,
Mr. Trump’s third national-secu-
rity adviser, and other officials
have flared in recent months over
influence in the President’s orbit
and how to manage his desire to
negotiate with some of the
world’s most unsavoury actors.
Since joining the administration
in the spring of last year, Mr. Bol-
ton has espoused skepticism
about the President’s whirlwind
rapprochement with North Ko-
rea, and recently has become a vo-
cal internal critic of potential talks
between Mr. Trump and leaders of
Iran and Afghanistan’s Taliban.
Mr. Bolton also broke with Mr.
Trump with his vocal condemna-
tion of Russia’s global aggres-
sions, and last year, he master-
minded a quiet campaign inside
the administration and with allies
abroad to persuade Mr. Trump to
keep U.S. forces in Syria to counter
the remnants of the Islamic State
and Iranian influence in the re-
gion. Mr. Bolton’s manoeuvring at

the time contrasted with former

secretary of defence Jim Mattis’s

decision to instead resign over Mr.

Trump’s December withdrawal

announcement, which has been

effectively reversed.

On Twitter on Tuesday, Mr.

Trump and Mr. Bolton offered op-

posing accounts on the adviser’s

less-than-friendly departure, fi-

nal shots for what had been a frac-

tious relationship almost from

the start.

Mr. Trump tweeted that he told

Mr. Bolton on Monday night his

services were no longer needed at

the White House and Mr. Bolton

submitted his resignation on

Tuesday morning. Mr. Bolton re-

sponded in a tweet of his own that

he offered to resign on Monday

“and President Trump said, ‘Let’s

talk about it tomorrow.’ ”

Mr. Trump explained that he

had “disagreed strongly” with

many of Mr. Bolton’s suggestions

as national-security adviser, “as

did others in the administration.”

Mr. Bolton’s letter of resigna-

tion, dated Tuesday, was only two

sentences long. He wrote: “Dear

Mr. President, I hereby resign, ef-

fective immediately, as assistant

to the president for national secu-

rity affairs. Thank you for having

afforded me this opportunity to

serve our country.” He signed the

letter “Sincerely, John R. Bolton.”

South Carolina Senator Lind-

sey Graham, who had been trav-

elling with Mr. Trump on Monday,

said reports of Mr. Bolton’s oppo-

sition to a now-scrapped week-

end meeting with the Taliban at

Camp David was a “bridge too far”

for Mr. Trump.

And one Republican familiar

with the disagreements between

Mr. Trump and Mr. Bolton said the

adviser’s opposition to a possible

meeting between Mr. Trump and

Iranian President Hassan Rouha-

ni was a precipitating factor.

French President Emmanuel Ma-

cron has been trying to broker

such a meeting, possibly on the

sidelines of the UN General As-

sembly, in hopes of salvaging the

international Iran nuclear deal

from which Mr. Trump withdrew.

“There were many times that

Ambassador Bolton and I dis-

agreed. That’s to be sure,” Secreta-

ry of State Mike Pompeo said on

Tuesday. He added that Mr.

Trump has been clear that he is

willing to meet with Mr. Rouhani

“with no preconditions.”

Treasury Secretary Steven

Mnuchin, who appeared with Mr.

Pompeo at the White House, vol-

unteered: “The President’s view

of the Iraq war and Ambassador

Bolton’s was very different.”

A former Bush administration

official, Mr. Bolton has cham-

pioned hawkish foreign-policy

views dating back to the Reagan

administration and became a

household name over his vocifer-

ous support for the Iraq war as the

U.S. ambassador to the UN under

George W. Bush. Mr. Trump ini-

tially supported the 2003 U.S. in-

vasion, but subsequently became

a vocal critic.

The Iraniangovernment hailed

Mr. Bolton’s departure, and

spokesman Ali Rabiei said it

might pave the way for warmer re-

lations. “By dismissal of the big-

gest supporter of war and eco-

nomic terrorism, the White

House will face less barrier to un-

derstand realities of Iran,” he said

in a tweet. Tehran calls the U.S.

sanctions on Iran “economic ter-

rorism.”

Mr. Pompeo said, “I don’t think

any leader around the world

should make any assumption

that because some one of us de-

parts that President Trump’s for-

eign policy will change in a mate-

rial way.”

Mr. Bolton’s well-known for-

eign-policy views and harsh rhet-

oric for U.S. foes had turned him

into a convenient boogeyman for

the likes of North Korea and Iran,

which have assailed him in the

media. His ouster came as a sur-

prise to many in the White House.

Just an hour before Mr. Trump’s

tweet, the press office announced

that Mr. Bolton would join Mr.

Pompeo and Mr. Mnuchin in a

briefing on new Iranian sanctions.

He did not.

As pressure has mounted amid

global troubles and signs of an ec-

onomic slowdown at home, Mr.

Trump has increasingly favoured

aides who are willing to defend

him on television. Mr. Bolton was

tentatively booked to appear on a

pair of Sunday talk shows in late

August but backed out, saying he

was not comfortable with some of

the administration’s plans, and

that drew the President’s ire, ac-

cording to a White House official

not authorized to discuss private

conversations

Mr. Bolton and his national-se-

curity council staff were also

viewed warily by some in the

White House who viewed them as

more attuned to their own agen-

das than the President’s – and

some administration aides have

accused Mr. Bolton’s staff of being

behind leaks of information em-

barrassing to Mr. Trump.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS

Trumpfiresnational-securityadviser

U.S.Presidentand

Boltonhaveclashed

overdealingswith

countriesinMiddleEast

ZEKEMILLER
DEBRIECHMANNWASHINGTON

JohnBolton,seenwithU.S.PresidentDonaldTrumpinWashingtononAug.20,saysheofferedtoresignon

Monday,butwastoldbyMr.Trumptowait.Mr.Boltonwasfiredthenextday.DOUGMILLS/THENEWYORKTIMES

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu announced his inten-
tion on Tuesday to annex the Jor-
dan Valley, a large swathe of the
occupied West Bank, if he wins a
closely contested election just a
week away.
Palestinian president Mah-
moud Abbas said in a statement
that “all signed agreements with
Israel and the obligations result-
ing from them would end” if Mr.
Netanyahu went through with
the move.
Israel captured the West Bank
in a 1967 war and Palestinians,
who signed interim peace deals
with Israel in the 1990s that in-
clude security co-operation, seek
to make the area part of a future
state.
Israeli political commentators
saw Mr. Netanyahu’s declaration,
in a speech broadcast live on Is-
rael’s main TV channels, as a bid
to siphon support away from far-
right rivals who have long advo-
cated annexation of Jewish settle-
ments in the West Bank.
“Today, I announce my inten-
tion, after the establishment of a
new government, to apply Israeli
sovereignty to the Jordan Valley
and the northern Dead Sea,” Mr.
Netanyahu said in a speech
broadcast live on Israeli TV chan-
nels, calling the area “Israel’s east-
ern border.”
That step, he said, could be tak-
en “immediately after the elec-
tion if I receive a clear mandate to

do so from you, the citizens of Is-

rael.”

Arab League foreign ministers

condemned Mr. Netanyahu’s

plan, saying it would undermine

any chance of progress toward

Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Around 65,000 Palestinians

and 11,000 Israeli settlers live in

the Jordan Valley and northern

Dead Sea area, according to the

Israeli human-rights group B’Tse-

lem. The main Palestinian city is

Jericho, with around 28 villages

and smaller Bedouin communi-

ties.

Fighting for his political life af-

ter an inconclusive election in

April, Mr. Netanyahu also re-

affirmed a pledge to annex all of

the settlements Israel has estab-

lished in the West Bank. But he

said that broader step could take

longer and required “maximum

co-ordination” with Washington,

Israel’s close ally.

“Out of respect for President

Trump and great faith in our

friendship, I will await applying

sovereignty until release of the

President’s political plan,” he

said, referring to a long-awaited

blueprint from Washington for Is-

raeli-Palestinian peace.

The U.S. plan, Mr. Netanyahu

reiterated, would likely be pre-

sented very soon after Israel goes

to the polls on Sept. 17. Mr. Neta-

nyahu, head of the right-wing Li-

kud party and in office for the past

decade, failed to form agoverning

coalition after a national ballot in

April.

“There is no change in United

States policy at this time,” a

Trump administration official

said when asked whether the

White House supported Mr. Neta-

nyahu’s move.

“We will release our Vision for

Peace after the Israeli election,

and work to determine the best

path forward to bring long sought

security, opportunity and stabili-

ty to the region.”

White House senior adviser

Jared Kushner said in early May

that he hoped Israel would take a

hard look at President Donald

Trump’s forthcoming Middle East

peace proposal before “proceed-

ing with any plan” to annex West

Bank settlements.

Hanan Ashrawi, a senior offi-

cial in the Palestine Liberation Or-

ganization, said on Twitter after

Mr. Netanyahu’s announcement

that the Israeli leader was out to

impose a “greater Israel on all of

historical Palestine and [carry]

out an ethnic cleansing agenda.”

“All bets are off. Dangerous ag-

gression. Perpetual conflict,” she

wrote.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks

collapsed in 2014 and Palestinians

have called Mr. Trump’s proposal

dead in the water, even before its

publication, citing what they see

as his pro-Israel policies.

Last March, just before Israel’s

previous election, Mr. Trump – in

a move widely seen as an attempt

to bolster Mr. Netanyahu – recog-

nized Israel’s 1981 annexation of

the Golan Heights, captured from

Syria in the 1967 conflict.

“It’s an election stunt and not a

very impressive one because it’s

so transparent,” Yair Lapid, co-

leader of the centrist Blue and

White Party, said in a statement

about Mr. Netanyahu’s plan.

Blue and White, led by former

armed forces chief Benny Gantz,

and Likud are running neck and

neck in opinion polls.

The Jordan Valley, which Pales-

tinians seek for the eastern perim-

eter of a state in the West Bank

and Gaza Strip, stretches from the

Dead Sea in the south to the Israeli

city of Beit Shean in the north.

The 2,400-square-kilometre

valley accounts for nearly 30 per

cent of the territory in the West

Bank. Israel has long said it in-

tends to maintain military con-

trol there under any peace agree-

ment with the Palestinians.

REUTERS

NetanyahusayshisgovernmentwillannexWestBank’sJordanValleyifre-elected

JEFFREYHELLERJERUSALEM

IsraeliaircraftstruckinGazaon

Wednesdayhoursafterrockets

fromthePalestinianenclave

triggeredsirensthatforcedPrime

MinisterBenjaminNetanyahuoff

thestageatanelectionrallyin

Israel.

TheIsraelimilitarysaid

targetswerehit,includinga

weapons-manufacturingfacility,

anavalcompoundusedby

militantsandtunnelsbelonging

toHamas,thedominantarmed

forceinGaza.

Therewerenoimmediate

reportsofcasualties.

Hoursearlier,bodyguards

rushedMr.Netanyahutoshelter

inthesouthernIsraelicityof

Ashdodwhenthesirenssound-

edduringaTuesdayevening

rally,aweekaheadofageneral

election.

Mr.Netanyahuwasunhurtand

severalminuteslaterhecontin-

uedhisspeech,whichwas

broadcastliveonsocialmediaby

hisright-wingLikudparty.

However,thespectacleofthe

PrimeMinisterbeingforcedoff

thepodiumaddedfueltoaccusa-

tionsbypoliticalopponentsthat

hehasnotdoneenoughtohalt

thefrequentcross-borderrocket

strikesagainstsouthernIsrael.

TheIsraelimilitarysaidtwo

rocketshadbeenfiredfromthe

GazaStriptowardAshdodand

anotherportcity,Ashkelon,just

tothesouth,andwereintercept-

edbytheIronDomeanti-missile

system.

ItsaidWednesday’sstrikesin

Gazacameinresponsetothe

rocketlaunchings.

Therewasnoimmediately

claimofresponsibilityforTues-

day’srocketattack.REUTERS

ISRAELSTRIKESGAZAAFTERROCKETSIRENSFORCE

PRIMEMINISTEROFFSTAGEDURINGELECTIONRALLY