Trump is treating Israel like a nettlesome supplicant

When Donald Trump won the 2024 election, the first foreign leaders to congratulate him were Israeli officials. Now, as he embarks upon his first overseas trip, Trump is visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates – and forgoing a stop in Israel. It increasingly seems apparent that Trump is pursuing an American First foreign policy that treats Israel not as a vital ally but a nettlesome supplicant. In pursuing this course, he is returning to an older Republican foreign affairs tradition that has seen a variety of presidents, from Dwight D. Eisenhower to George H.W. Bush, treat Israel with skepticism, if not antipathy.

For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this turn of events comes as a rude surprise. Netanyahu sought to undermine former President Joe Biden at every turn and welcomed Trump’s return, visiting Mar-a-Lago in December together with his wife Sara and boasting of his “very good relationship” with Trump. In early February Netanyahu visited Trump in the Oval Office to discuss the Gaza strip and Iran. There early signs of an emerging rift between Trump and Netanyahu became evident. To Netanyahu’s surprise, Trump announced, “We’re having direct talks with Iran.” In addition, Trump floated his plan for American suzerainty over the Gaza strip, proclaiming he would transform the area into an economic mecca.

Since then, Trump has only proven more unpredictable, at least in the eyes of his Israeli interlocutors. The purge of his national security adviser Mike Waltz, together with much of his staff, has ensured that the more hawkish figures – often referred to as “neocons” by MAGA adherents – who clambered on board the Trump express have been rudely tossed aside. The result is the rise of advisers who style themselves as champions of “realism and restraint” by which they mean no more misbegotten wars in the Middle East.

Already Trump has retreated from his melee with the Houthis in the Yemen, much to the disappointment of Netanyahu and his claque who had hoped that it might serve as a dress rehearsal for a direct attack on Iran itself. The blunt fact is that the bombing campaign was going nowhere. Trump recognized that it was a failure and reached a truce with the Houthi rebels that served to shield American ships from attacks but said nary a word about Israel’s security. As The Washington Post has reported, Trump is also meditating providing Saudi Arabia civil nuclear technology absent any strictures about establishing formal relations with Israel.

Most recently, Trump had his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff negotiate directly with Hamas to extricate Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander. Trump did not inform Israel about the impending deal. For his part, Witkoff expressed his disappointment that America “wants to return the hostages, but Israel is not ready to end the war.” Alexander was released on Monday. Trump was elated. “This was a step taken in good faith towards the United States and the efforts of the mediators – Qatar and Egypt – to put an end to this very brutal war and return ALL living hostages and remains to their loved ones. Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict,” he wrote on Sunday on Truth Social.

Former Trump ambassador David M. Friedman took to X to dismiss the notion that longstanding ties between Israel and America were fraying. He declared, “There is NO RIFT between President Trump and PM Netanyahu. There are those in both the US and Israel who would like to see such a rift, and they are feeding false accounts to the media to achieve just that. But it’s all fake.”

Sorry, ambassador. Trump’s actions say otherwise.