Day after Trump’s ‘Israel does as I say’ remark on stopping Lebanon fighting, 5 killed in fresh strikes

In the Tree brasserie off Herzl Street in Rehovot, there was much that almost everyone agreed on.

A meeting due to take place on Friday between the US and Iran in Switzerland to discuss implementation of the new deal was cancelled when Hizbullah killed four Israeli soldiers and Israel carried out a wave of retaliatory air strikes in southern Lebanon that killed at least 47 people.

Before signing the deal, US President Donald Trump had publicly urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to act responsibly, fearing that continued operations in Lebanon could jeopardize the agreement.

Neither, for that matter, did his determination to have the presentation of what he said was a truly epoch-making peace deal coincide with his 80th birthday – Trump thinks he can make the entire world dance to his tune and he is mightily pleased with what he sees as yet another signal achievement.