Former US president Donald Trump spat an expletive about his old ally, Israel’s ex-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for congratulating Joe Biden on his victory in last year’s election, according to a new book. Trump lashed out in an interview for a book on US-Israel relations during his presidency, author Barak Ravid wrote on the Axios website on Friday. “I haven’t spoken to him since,” Trump told Ravid in an interview. “Fuck him.” Ravid said that he interviewed Trump twice for his forthcoming book, “Trump’s Peace: The Abraham Accords and the Reshaping of the Middle East.” He said Trump, who appeared close to Netanyahu while president from 2017 to 2021, was repeatedly critical of him in the interviews.

Palestinians in West Bank

villages hold municipal polls

Palestinians in villages of the Israeli-occupied West Bank voted in municipal polls yesterday, amid a boycott by the main opposition Hamas, the Islamist rulers of Gaza, in protest at the indefinite postponement of a general election. No legislative or presidential election has been held in the Palestinian territories for 15 years, while the last municipal vote -- also boycotted by Hamas -- took place in 2017. Of the 367 villages in the West Bank, 60 had no candidates standing and another 162 had a single list, leaving only 154 villages actually voting yesterday. Polling stations are open until 7:00 pm, with some 405,000 people eligible to vote, according to the elections committee. The municipal vote -- the first of two stages, with cities and towns due to vote in March 2022 -- is widely considered as inconsequential, with most candidates running as independents and Hamas not taking part.

Biden staffer appointed

as director of Unicef

Catherine Russell, a senior official of US President Joe Biden’s administration, has been named head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), a UN spokesperson announced Friday. Russell, 60, is currently the director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel and assistant to the president. Appointed by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Russell will replace fellow American Henrietta Fore, who resigned in July to care for her ailing husband. Unicef is a UN agency headed by a board of directors made up of 36 members who represent the five regional groups of United Nations member states: Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, and Europe. It advocates for children in 190 countries and territories with an overall estimated budget of $22.8 billion for 2018-2021.