A report in Israel’s Israel Hayom says that President Donald Trump is “disappointed” in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has decided to make his next moves in the Middle East without him.
The report, published in Hebrew and citing two sources close to Trump, would seem to corroborate the observation that Trump has cut Netanyahu out of his decision-making process on major policy steps.
Last month, Trump surprised Netanyahu by announcing that the U.S. would begin “direct” talks with the Iranian regime over a new nuclear deal. And this week, he surprised Israel again by announcing that the U.S. had reached a separate ceasefire with the Houthi rebels in Yemen — who said they would still attack Israel.
The report (translated via Google Translate) suggests:
The sources explained that the president is interested in making decisions that he believes will advance the United States, particularly regarding Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. Israel was supposed to take part in some of these steps – apparently referring mainly to normalization with Saudi Arabia. However, according to Trump, Netanyahu is delaying making the necessary decisions. Against this background, the president is not willing to wait until Israel does what is expected of it and moves forward without it.
It should be noted that as part of normalization with Israel, Saudi Arabia expects an end to the war in Gaza and an Israeli declaration of a “horizon for a Palestinian state,” or similar wording. Minister Ron Dermer, who is handling the issue, devoted many hours to formulating the words related to Israel’s willingness to establish a “Palestinian state” in the future, given the public opposition to the idea and the political sensitivity of the term in Israel.
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The president’s anger is likely the explanation for Israel’s compartmentalization, both from the announcement of the ceasefire with the Houthis, and from Israel’s inclusion in the agreement. It should be noted that even after Trump announced the agreement with the Houthis, Israeli representatives handling relations with the US were unable to receive information from White House officials about what was happening for a day. In addition to Israel’s compartmentalization, Trump is not currently scheduled to visit Israel as part of his visit to the region next week.
Trump has expressed frustration with Netanyahu before — notably after Netanyahu congratulated Joe Biden on winning the 2020 election, but also over Netanyahu’s reluctance to compromise with the Palestinians.
During his first term, Trump appeared to blame Netanyahu for the lack of progress in peace talks — before finding that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was unwilling to compromise on key issues.
Israel is quietly growing worried that Trump, despite his pro-Israel record, is about to sign a deal with Iran that repeats many of the mistakes of the deal announced in 2015 by President Barack Obama. There is a fear that Trump is so eager for a political “win” that he is prepared to sacrifice Israel’s security for a bad deal.
There is also a sense among Israelis that Trump, and his advisers, are naïve about the Middle East. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, for example, recently expressed the idea that Qatar is genuinely interested in peace and stability in the region — something Israelis do not believe, given Qatar’s past support for the Muslim Brotherhood and its ongoing support for Al Jazeera, which backs Palestinian terrorism against Israelis.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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