President Donald Trump’s Middle East policy faces significant challenges, particularly concerning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Despite Trump’s strong support for Netanyahu’s policies, including recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and endorsing settlement expansion, Netanyahu’s approach to the Gaza conflict has become a critical point of contention.
In early 2025, Trump proposed a controversial plan to “take over” Gaza, suggesting the U.S. would manage the territory and relocate its Palestinian population. While Netanyahu initially supported the idea, emphasizing the necessity of removing Hamas, the proposal faced international criticism and legal concerns, leading to mixed reactions within Israel and the U.S. administration .Wikipedia+1Wikipedia+1
The situation is further complicated by Netanyahu’s firm stance on continuing military operations in Gaza, despite growing international pressure for a ceasefire. This divergence in strategies poses a significant obstacle to Trump’s broader Middle East goals, including fostering regional peace and securing normalization agreements with Arab nations .
Tump’s big speech in Riyadh ” The speech didn’t deliver much in terms of actual policy changes. The promise to rename the Persian Gulf the Arabian Gulf as an applause line seems to have vanished into the ether. He talked about how great the Abraham Accords were and how much he’d like to see Saudi Arabia join, but made no announcement that they would. He talked about how awful things were for the people of Gaza but said nothing in support of or in opposition to Israel’s impending offensive and didn’t repeat his calls to depopulate Gaza and build resorts. He claimed victory over the Houthis in Yemen, to an audience full of people who understood very well that the US had not defeated the Houthis (and that their agreement did not extend to ceasing attacks on Israel). The audience heard more about his election victory, how terrible Joe Biden had been, and lies about his tarrifs and how great the US economy is doing (standard stump speech/TV rambling stuff) than it did about Israel and Gaza.
We should have no illusions that Trump’s growing list of differences with Netanyahu is the product of a newfound love for Palestinians or the people of the region. Palestinians remain the weakest players in the region, with the least to offer the most transactional president in American history. Trump is merely acting out of a love for himself and the achievements he can rack up in a region that has long been central to American interests and the cause of many presidential headaches.
Everywhere he looks across the region, he sees opportunities for progress and deals that can be made in America’s interests—and might even someday bring him that Nobel Peace Prize he covets. And every one of them is being complicated by Benjamin Netanyahu. It is an ironic twist of history, given how much Netanyahu favored Trump over Democratic alternatives seeking the White House, and it is not clear how long the divisions will remain. But at this moment, while the Middle East is front and center in the president’s agenda, Netanyahu’s role as a central obstacle in it could not be clearer.
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