SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
By Matthew Knott
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East visit – his first major international trip since his return to office – is as notable for where he isn’t going as where he is.
Trump has found time in his schedule to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates but has conspicuously avoided travelling to Israel. The absence could have been regarded as a curious oversight were it not reflective of a deeper dynamic developing between the Trump administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Tuesday.Credit: AP
These previously subterranean tensions have burst to the surface in recent days across multiple fronts.
“I think what you’re seeing is the Israelis recognising that, as much as they welcomed the election of President Trump and thought that would really give them a blank cheque to pursue whatever agenda they wanted, Trump has his own agenda,” Frank Lowenstein, a former Middle East envoy under the Obama administration, said during a virtual briefing organised by J Street, an advocacy organisation that describes itself as pro-Israel and pro-peace.
It would be overblown to describe the US-Israeli tensions as a crisis or even a rupture. But Trump is keeping Netanyahu off balance, and is showing he is certainly not the Israeli prime minister’s patsy. The implications for the Middle East and the war with Gaza, like so much with a volatile figure such as Trump, will be profound and unpredictable.
First came Trump’s announcement last week that the US would immediately halt its military campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen after the Houthis agreed to stop firing on US ships in the Red Sea. The agreement reportedly blindsided and infuriated Netanyahu, especially given it came right after the Houthis attacked Israel with a missile that hit close to the nation’s main airport.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Donald Trump in the Oval Office in April.Credit: Getty
Trump made clear he is more interested in reducing consumer prices in the US by freeing up international shipping routes than providing security protection for Israel. Importantly, Trump’s vow to impose a 17 per cent tariff on Israeli goods still remains despite Netanyahu quickly flying to Washington last month to try to secure an exemption.
Secondly, the Trump administration negotiated directly with Hamas to secure the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander. The Trump administration cut Israel out of the negotiations, using a secret back channel to secure the one-off agreement with Hamas that the listed terrorist group has framed as an act of goodwill.
Israel was reportedly forced to rely on its intelligence agencies, rather than the US, to learn about the deal. Israelis, of course, have welcomed Alexander’s release, but the agreement has raised uncomfortable questions about why Israelis with dual nationality can be put on a fast track to freedom while those with only Israeli citizenship cannot.
The release of the final American hostage could lead Trump to disengage even further with the war in Gaza, allowing Netanyahu to fight the war as he sees fit.
Trump has evinced next to no sympathy for the deaths of Palestinian civilians and has shown little interest in following up on his outlandish plan to turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
Unlike the Biden administration, Trump has not tried to pressure Israel into changing its military tactics to minimise civilian casualties or to insist upon the delivery of aid to the beleaguered strip. On the other hand, if Trump comes to perceive the war not just as a nuisance, but as an obstacle to his ability to strike deals across the Middle East, he could increase pressure on Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
Thirdly, the Trump administration has entered into talks with Israel’s prime adversary, Iran, over its nuclear program. This goes against Netanyahu’s desire for the US to isolate Iran diplomatically and provide support for a potential attack on its nuclear facilities.
“I want to make a deal with Iran. If I can make a deal with Iran, I’ll be very happy,” Trump told an investment conference in Riyadh. “We’re going to make your region and the world a safer place. But if Iran’s leadership rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbours, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive, maximum pressure.”
The bellicose final sentence will please Netanyahu, but he will be alarmed by comments from Trump indicating Iran could continue enriching uranium under a possible deal with the US.
Fourthly, Trump appears to have little interest in driving forward a historic normalisation deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel that would marginalise Iran, a strategic rival to both nations. Trump has barely mentioned Israel while in Saudi Arabia, where his focus has been on a $US142 billion ($220 billion) arms deal with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In Qatar, he is preparing to accept the gift of a $US400 million luxury jet.
Finally, Trump made the shock announcement that he would suspend US sanctions against the Syrian government led by former rebel Ahmed al-Sharaa. Trump has even agreed to meet the new Syrian leader, even though he and his group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham are still on the US terrorist register.
Trump said his decision came after the urging of bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who last year announced he was severing ties with Israel. Netanyahu will eye Trump’s unilateral sanctions move warily, as he worries about the prospect of a strong Turkish ally emerging on Israel’s border.
It’s a reminder that, when Trump is forced to choose between self-interest and the United States’ special friendship with Israel, the self-interested dealmaker will win out every time.
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