Israel is quickly learning that its interests and US interests can diverge.
We all have friends, and unconsciously, we rank them according to their importance in our lives. There are those few for whom we would do anything, maybe even take a slug. And then there are those we’d be unlikely to loan any money to because we would never expect to have it paid back.
Today, Israel has the best friends it could imagine in the White House. And while the countries share a great deal, they are not identical. Israel’s enemies tend to be America’s enemies, the “Judeo-Christian” values are similar, both countries are technology powerhouses, etc. Still, the president swears an oath to the Constitution. His obligations are to his family and his country. When the US and Israeli interests are not identical, his job is to do what is right for the country he runs.
Of late, Israel’s best friends in the Trump administration have given the country a cold shoulder. To wit:
*President Trump is a great friend of Israel. He moved the embassy when his three predecessors promised but did not deliver. He sent the IDF all the weapons and D9 tractors held up by the Biden administration. Last week, the president removed normalization with Israel as a condition for Saudi development of a civilian nuclear program. The president made it clear that he will not visit Israel when he travels around the region this week.
*Pete Hegseth has publicly stated that Israel should build the third Jewish temple in Jerusalem. He is a strong friend of Israel. He canceled his planned trip to the country this week.
*Mike Huckabee is a great friend of Israel and the Jewish people. Just last week, he visited the site of the tabernacle/temple in Shilo, which is technically in the occupied territories. The ambassador, the previous week, stated in front of the embassy that President Trump has ordered that humanitarian aid be brought into Gaza and that Israel will play no role in its distribution. Like 800 Israeli soldiers have been killed since October 7th, 2023, can one just push the IDF away like a leaf? Israel has very strong interests in the next phase of the Gaza campaign.
*Qatari Steve Wikoff is Jewish and has been tasked, along with other things, with getting Israeli hostages home. He conveniently leaked his own statement that Israel must make a hostage deal with Hamas before the president gets to Saudi Arabia. Pressure much?
What we are witnessing is not Obama-style screwing of Israel. When the former president stated that the US needs to see more “daylight” between its positions and those of Israel, he made a huge mistake. He emboldened the terrorists and Iran. They learned that Obama would not provide weapons during a war (which he did hold up) and would not support Israel fully at the antisemitic UN. His ambassador voted against Israel in the administration’s last days. What we have is the White House thinking about US interests. The president no doubt wants to strengthen Saudi ties after Biden and Obama pushed away the kingdom in favor of the Iranian mullahs. Hegseth’s cancellation is a really bad optic for Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu—local reports claim that Trump is finished with Bibi. That seems to me overwrought, and Huckabee and the White House spokeswoman say such is not the case. But the winds are changing.
The problem in Washington is that officials often do not understand local calculations. Few remember the successful Abraham Accords almost did not get off the ground. Israel was about to pass a law extending Israeli law to the West Bank. The territories are considered separate from Israel, and passing the law would have been a significant step towards their formal incorporation into the state. Israel gave up the plan after the UAE said it would not sign the accords if Israel went ahead with the change in legal status. Israel still has not harmonized the laws between 1948 and 1967.
Also, perception issues are not often understood in the West. Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran always declare victory after every battle, attack, or event. While the reality would suggest that the Lebanese terror group has been decimated, that Gaza looks like Hiroshima, and that Iran’s last salvo of missiles killed one Palestinian, their claims of victory serve two purposes. The first is to demoralize the Israelis. Some leftwing rag will pick up the other side’s claim and run with it. The second goal is to convince the locals that their efforts are paying off. As claiming otherwise might be the last thing a person ever does, very few are willing to buck the official claims of glorious victory. The Houthis spun two F-18s lost due to accidents into two fighters downed by their brave warriors.
Everyone wants the hostages home, but not everyone is willing to pay the price that Hamas demands. Ending the war early (a key Hamas demand) will only lead to Hamas rearming and another pogrom. Releasing more killers means God forbid future funerals, people and dates still unknown. Gaza has been running for over two months without humanitarian aid deliveries. Any future aid must be distributed in a manner in which Hamas does not benefit financially or politically by hoarding the food and using it as a means of controlling the population. The Saudis have demanded a Palestinian state for normalization. Gaza was a Palestinian state; hard pass on creating a new one.
I do not doubt that President Trump has Israel’s best interests in mind. But in the end, Bibi, his cabinet members, and the generals have different calculations than their American counterparts. Agreeing to a corrupt Palestinian terror state to please the Saudis is dangerous. Getting hostages back by giving Hamas what it wants will only prolong the war. These are not easy considerations. Israeli leaders never want to contradict the Americans publicly. Under Biden, when the senile president said not to enter Rafah, Israel did so with great success (it grabbed the Philadelphi Corridor and killed Sinwar there, etc.). Israel once tried to sell an AWACS-type plane to India under George W. Bush, and the US said no. Israel complied.
Israel needs to finish the war in Gaza in its favor. It needs to put the Iranian nuclear program out of business. For the first time, Witkoff now says there can be no Iranian enrichment. Jerusalem and Washington would also like to extend the Abraham Accords to other Arab countries. The US is Israel’s foremost ally. Friends can argue but must remain friends and show the world as much. Donald Trump should have included Israel in his itinerary, and he could come to me for a barbecue he would never forget. The US can advance its interests, but it should do so in a manner that does not put Israel into a diplomatic or military box.