At least a quarter of the measures signed by Trump in his first two weeks either directly or indirectly dealt with Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East in general, writes Khalil E. Jahshan. [GETTY]
As promised throughout the 2024 presidential election campaign, Donald J. Trump delivered the characteristic ‘shock and confusion’ tactics he committed to unleash through dozens of draconian and vindictive executive orders aimed at initially rescinding around eighty executive orders and actions adopted by the Biden administration.
The 47th US president did not waste any time after his inauguration ceremony to sign and release a blizzard of new contentious measures, including steps pertaining to such typical “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) projects. This included overhauling the US government to end what he perceives as its endemic waste, reducing the size of the federal agencies and work force, combating what he deems as the “deep state,” and securing American borders, to name a few.
The newly-revamped official White House website is already bragging that “America is back,” as if the government has been on a sabbatical from the real world for the past four years but has now, under Trump, resumed its path to become “great again.”
Two factors highlight the superficial and propagandistic nature of almost all these executive orders. First, the unpopular nature of these measures, except among Trump’s immediate right-wing MAGA support groups. As far as the American public at large is concerned, they are not too excited about his early dramatic and horrifying actions. Indeed, A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in late January found that 45% of Americans approved of Trump’s initial performance as president, down slightly from the 47% approval expressed immediately after inauguration.
Second, although Trump has already wagered the prestige of the White House and the legacy of his second term in office behind these executive orders, the current administration’s backing does not seem consistently supportive or ideologically committed to all of them at this early juncture in its political life span.
It would not surprise any keen political observer of American politics if some of these executive orders were to gradually fall by the wayside or get downgraded by the administration itself for purely practical reasons. A case in point, is the issue of trade tariffs highlighted by the Trump campaign as the flagship of its foreign trade policy. Only a few days after declaring tariff wars and imposing arbitrary taxes on Canada and Mexico, the president and his advisers appear to be saving face by making a U-turn. They seem to be delaying the implementation of their highly-touted 25% tariffs due to rising concerns among business groups, affected domestic communities, and the shocked financial markets.
Some political commentators ridiculed Trump for losing his trade war before it even started.
Targeting the Middle East
As a foreign policy analyst affiliated with a Washington-based think tank focused on the Arab World and US national interests in the Middle East, I was admittedly quite intrigued by the president’s focus on the region in his executive orders. Indeed, at least a quarter of the measures signed by Trump in his first two weeks either directly or indirectly dealt with Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East in general.
Amongst the key executive orders and related public statements which illustrate the emerging foreign policy direction of the new administration, is the reversal of sanctions imposed by Biden on extremist Jewish settlers accused of engaging in violent acts against innocent civilians in the occupied West Bank.
The seventeen individuals and sixteen settler organisations were well known to Israeli authorities and US Embassy staff for their persistent campaigns to drive Palestinians off their native land. However, Trump is making it clear that he is not opposed to their violence. No wonder his proposals for Gaza and the West Bank were warmly received by the extreme right-wing Israeli government which immediately ordered logistic plans for Palestinian population transfer.
Another executive order was the 90-day freeze on all US foreign programs, except the “linked” aid package to Israel and Egypt. Mr. Trump apparently considers what he calls “The US foreign aid industry and bureaucracy” as wasteful and “not aligned with American interests and values,” except when it directly benefits the state of Israel. However, his claim that such cuts would save precious taxpayers funds ran hollow in the sense that, in actuality, all US foreign aid does not exceed 1.17% of the federal budget.
Furthermore, continuing his unprecedented streak of “a diktat a day,” Trump ordered the US military to resume the supply of US-made 2,000-pound bombs to Israel that the Biden administration restricted due to its concern over civilian casualties in urban battles and Israeli use of the weapons against civilian population during the fight over the city of Rafah in Southern Gaza.
Under the guise of combating antisemitism around the world and protecting American citizens at home, particularly on university campuses, the Trump administration issued another executive order to curtail campus activities particularly critical of Israeli practices in Gaza. He limited constitutional free speech rights on campuses and threatened to deport noncitizens and international students for their pro-Palestine and anti-war activism.
Civil rights groups around the country warned of potential violations of constitutionally protected free speech rights by Trump’s executive orders and committed to challenging them in US courts.
Trump’s “America First” mindset and his animosity toward the Palestinians also propelled his campaign to end funding to specific United Nations agencies and organisations, particularly those involved in supporting Palestinian rights, criticising Israeli occupation policies, and supposedly acting against US national interests.
Trump quickly withdrew from the World Health Organization (WHO) and called for additional scrutiny against the UNHRC, UNESCO, and UNRWA. He has adopted the same position advocated by extreme Israeli right-wing religious and nationalist parties specifically targeting UNRWA for its economic, educational, and humanitarian support for Palestinian refugees, whose insistence on their right of return has been viewed as an existential threat to continued long-term Zionist colonialism in Palestine.
Despite the US and Israel not being members of the International criminal Court (ICC), and the court having no jurisdiction over either country, Trump signed another executive order accusing the international tribunal of engaging in “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel”. He accused the ICC of abusing its power by issuing “baseless arrest warrants” against Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant. This took place whilst he hosted Netanyahu in Washington.
The White House also threatened to impose “tangible and significant consequences” on the ICC to isolate the court and stifle its vital international role, including renowned court Prosecutor Karim Khan.
Pundits have claimed that Trump’s second term in office would be a replica of Trump 1.0, but without the minimal discipline and guardrails imposed by the few adults in the room. Dealing with Trump under normal circumstances is virtually identical to dealing with the theatre of the absurd. It is a lethal combination of predictable political choreography and unforeseeable improvisation. It is a rare form of governance even by relatively flexible non-ideological American standards. Certainly, the long list of executive orders issued since inauguration was the equivalent of a drum roll setting the stage for a stunning finale.
In this case, the finale came in the form of a political bombshell timed with the visit by Netanyahu to the White House to pursue the remaining stages of the American-sponsored ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel. As Netanyahu stated before his departure from Ben-Gurion airport earlier this month, the aim of his White House summit was “to redraw” the Middle East.
Unfortunately, Trump obliged by putting aside the declared purpose of his encounter with Netanyahu i.e. full ceasefire implementation and regional normalisation, granted the legally and politically besieged Israeli leader his ultimate dream: the ethnic cleansing of Gaza under US leadership. Netanyahu arrived in Washington worried about the day after in Gaza, but returned home with an ill-conceived and ill-timed commitment by the US president to turn the war-torn strip into an American colony that he dreams of transforming into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
Khalil E. Jahshan is the Executive Director of Arab Centre Washington DC.
Follow him on X: @khalilejahshan
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Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.
