Israelis take Trump tirade in stride, give thanks

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By Janis Laizans

HAIFA, Israel (Reuters) -Israelis responded calmly on Tuesday to U.S. President Donald Trump’s criticisms and accusations their country had violated a truce he brokered with Iran, expressing gratitude for his mediation and relief at the conclusion of the 12-day war.

Earlier in the day Trump admonished Israel with an obscenity in an extraordinary outburst at an ally whose air war he had joined two days before by dropping massive bunker-buster bombs on Iran’s underground nuclear sites.

“Honestly, I don’t care that much about what Trump said about Israel. At the end of the day, I think he’s the one that truly helped to bring an end to this war and that’s what’s important to me,” said Daniel Kopylkov, a 27-year-old cook.

Kopylkov was one of several people interviewed in Haifa, northern Israel, a target of Iranian missiles during the conflict. It is Israel’s third largest city after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and home to Israel’s busiest seaport and a naval base.

Historian Marc Volovici, 42, said Trump’s outburst underscored Israel’s dependence on U.S. political, military and financial support.

“This was just a very small but significant demonstration of how Israel relies on international legitimacy, and especially (the) American one,” he said.

A 70-year-old resident identifying herself only as Esther said: “It’s like a parent scolding the child. He’s scolding us. But it’s not anything dramatically serious,” she said. “I’m not a politician, you know, I’m just feeling it like that.”

Lawyer Ephraim Glazberg, 75, expressed a similar view.

“I think it was the agony of the moment. I don’t think this is a problem,” he said.

(Writing by Howard Goller; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)