You can accuse Donald Trump of many things, but wasting time isn’t one of them.
Trump has been back in office for less than two months and has spent much of that time rapidly unravelling America’s historic diplomatic ties and trashing its alliances. He has repeatedly threatened not to come to the defence of NATO allies if they are attacked, undermining the very purpose of that military alliance. And he has hit close US allies and neighbours like Mexico and Canada with punishing tariffs.
Then, of course, there is Ukraine. In barely any time at all, Trump halted American support for that country’s heroic defensive war against Vladimir Putin’s aggression and is now bullying and blackmailing Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky to try to force him to surrender to Russia. The Western consensus in favour of Ukraine’s right to defend itself has been swiftly demolished.
Ukraine is a US ally, heavily reliant on American weapons, fighting a war it didn’t start against an enemy of the West that appears to want to destroy it. Sound familiar? It is, and that’s why anybody who cares about Israel’s long-term security and wants peace in the Middle East should be concerned by this new US approach to countries that are supposed to be America’s friends.
Ben Kentish
Trump has shown that it does not matter how long-standing an ally a country is: he is ripping up the rulebook, and nothing is sacred or safe. Threatened with the prospect of trade tariffs and the unprecedented unravelling of US support for NATO, Britain can no longer afford to treat the US as a reliable ally. Nor can Israel.
Under his “America First” doctrine, Trump will seek to cut American financial and military support to other countries where he sees an imbalance or thinks the benefits to the US aren’t great enough.
He has already decided, disastrously, that Ukraine falls into that category. It is perfectly possible that, at some point in the future, he might come to the view that Israel does too.
So any initial optimism about Trump’s apparent support for Israel’s security needs should be tempered by the reality of how shaky is the ground on which any all of his allegiances are built. To put it bluntly: a friend as unreliable and unpredictable as Trump is no real friend at all.
Already there are signs that Trump’s support is superficial. Just look at his plan for Gaza – which isn’t really a plan at all. His unserious, unfeasible and almost certainly illegal proposal to forcibly deport the entire population of the Gaza Strip and take the territory under US control is nothing more than a gimmick designed to fill a vacuum where proper, grown-up leadership ought to be. What Israel needs is a workable, US-facilitated, internationally-backed diplomatic agreement to rid Gaza of the scourge of Hamas and ensure that the Strip no longer poses a security threat. Instead, from Trump, there is just bluff, bluster and bravado.
Trump is approaching this issue, as he seems to approach most issues, from a place of personal self-interest. Where most people see a desperate situation, an intractable problem, a decades-long conflict causing endless suffering on all sides, Trump sees a business opportunity. He may be the leader of the Free World but, before all of that, he is a property tycoon.
Watch closely when he talks about his plan for Gaza and you can virtually see the dollar signs flashing in his eyes. Rather than bringing a renewed drive for permanent peace and the removal of Hamas once and for all, he shares spoof AI-generated videos about a new Gazan Riviera, as if it all a joke to him.
Of course, it hasn’t all been bad. Trump deserves credit for his role in helping to secure the ceasefire deal that triggered the release of 33 hostages. But even then, within days, the US President himself was putting that fragile truce at risk with his out-of-the blue and widely condemned announcement about wanting to deport all the current inhabitants of Gaza. Let’s be clear: nobody is going to agree to a lasting peace deal that involves forcibly removing all Palestinians from Gaza. The timing of Trump’s proposal threatened to scupper the ceasefire and, with it, the planned release of more innocent hostages.
He is not a reliable ally.
In times as fearful as these, when Jews across the globe feel isolated and afraid, it is completely natural to want to snatch at what seems like a hand of solidarity and support – especially when that hand is being offered by the world’s most powerful man.
Still, we should not kid ourselves about Trump’s trustworthiness. He cannot be relied upon as a dependable friend of Britain, Israel or anybody else. His moods change with the wind, his foreign policy is based on his latest whims and his friendships rarely stand the test of time. Trump’s unpredictability can be a strength, but it is also a threat, especially to those who make the mistake of thinking he can be relied upon.
I just hope that more US allies don’t have to learn that lesson the hard way.
