Right, so Benjamin Netanyahu is bricking it right now as his bestie Orange Donnie and by bestie I mean guy he thought he could easily manipulate because he’s thick as mince, might not have been as thick as Netanyahu thought.
Above all else Donald Trump will do what is in Donald Trump’s best interests and with Netanyahu frustrating him in the Middle East on one hand and Israel’s reputation nosediving amongst Americans at home, its becoming less politically expedient and much more tedious to keep acquiescing to Israel’s whining.
US deals with the Houthis, Iran, Hamas and more, accusations of Israel spying on his administration, skipping Israel on his upcoming Middle East tour, possibly even recognition of a Palestinian state yet – though that’s pretty remote – relations have never been frostier between the US and Israel so could Trump’s self-serving nature for once, actually do some good?
Right, so the relationship between Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump has over the last several days been unravelling spectacularly and we’re all heartbroken to see it I’m sure! A bond once based on their mutual admiration over populist rhetoric, arms deals, and a mutual willingness to wreck the Middle East, Trump and Netanyahu are now not even talking. Trump no longer speaks to Netanyahu, has actively excluded Israel from his upcoming Middle East trip, and is reportedly reassessing US priorities in the region in a way that leaves Netanyahu, and Israel as a whole, increasingly isolated. But is this rupture more than just a personal falling-out, or is it just Trump reverting to type, putting himself and his own interests first due to the broader changes in global politics and US public opinion of Israel, and the undeniable depravity associated with their ongoing genocide of Gaza?
Gaza is certainly central here. Under Netanyahu’s lregime, Israel has engaged in a blatant campaign of genocide. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed, entire neighbourhoods razed, hospitals bombed, and basic humanitarian needs denied, a war of starvation having now gone on for weeks. While Netanyahu touts these actions as necessary measures against terrorism, they have left Israel isolated on the world stage and increasingly regarded as a pariah state and rightfully so in my view.
Trump, ever the political opportunist, will now be acutely aware of how this carnage is being viewed by more and more Americans—especially the younger generation, minorities, and even conservative libertarians who once formed part of his base. Trump's decision to cut off communication with Netanyahu and sideline him from ongoing regional negotiations is both a personal rebuke, but is also arguably strategy on his part. It allows Trump to present himself as detached from Israeli atrocities and more in tune with that shifting public sentiment, heading off tanking poll numbers over Israeli support, it was what brought his predecessor down after all.
The beginning of the Trump-Netanyahu breakdown was around the time of the firing of Mike Waltz as Trump’s National Security Adviser. Waltz was a vocal pro-Israel war hawk and had been advocating for US military involvement in a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear sites, a plan that was reportedly discussed between himself and Netanyahu during Netanyahu's last visit to Washington. However, Trump had rejected all Israeli proposals for such an action. What compounded the situation even further though was the revelation that Waltz had been using an Israeli-made archiving app called TeleMessage, which has alleged links to Israeli intelligence, sparking conjecture that Waltz may have been spying for Israel, or at the very least left himself open to be spied on.
TeleMessage has long been under scrutiny for its potential as a tool of espionage. It offers encrypted archiving services, and while its stated function is to ensure compliance with regulations, experts have flagged concerns about its data-handling practices and backdoor access potentially available to Israeli intelligence agencies. Waltz's enthusiastic use of the app therefore raised red flags and coming after the SignalGate mess where he was found to be the guilty party that let in a journalist from The Atlantic to a group discussing strikes on Yemen, it all got too much perhaps and Waltz subsequently went.
One of the most significant indicators of Trump's pivot against Israel was his move to delink support for Saudi Arabia's nuclear program from normalisation with Israel.
The Trump team dropped the normalisation condition in ongoing talks with Riyadh, allowing the Saudis to pursue a civilian nuclear program without Israeli input or objection. For Netanyahu, this is a major slight. Apparently he was trying to ring Trump incessantly while in Riyadh, but the phone went unanswered.
In another departure from the pro Israeli line, the Trump team has abandoned the demand that Hamas disarm as a precondition for a ceasefire in Gaza. This demand had been a major sticking point in all previous negotiations, Hamas refusing to disarm, not trusting Israel effectively ensuring that no deal could move forward because it gave Netanyahu an excuse to hide behind, yet Israel were refusing point blank to agree to any form of ceasefire in reality.
Unlike negotiations involving Netanyahu however, negotiating with Hamas has borne fruit. A breakthrough deal to free Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, happening today at time of writing, as a gesture of goodwill by Hamas, marking a significant departure from the hardline stances Netanyahu has stuck to, his hard right coalition government not accepting any form of ceasefire, so how can anyone actually work with Israel therefore? Perhaps Trump has simply come to that realisation too, especially when his attention span is so short and he wants to move on to something else.
The there was the peace deal brokered with Yemen's Houthis, halting their attacks on US warships. This was blatantly a capitulation by Trump as I covered the other day, but the deal notably did not require the Houthis to cease their actions against Israel, including the blockade of Israeli shipping and missile strikes. The Houthis are now Israel’s problem and Trump isn’t helping them with it anymore.
This move enraged Netanyahu, this was a betrayal in his mind I’m sure, but one thing still not off the table that I’ve seen is arms sales to Israel by the US, so presumably Trump will keep selling him the means to defend himself.
As the Gaza peace talks with Hamas continue though, lets not for a moment figure that trump is doing smart stuff in the Middle East aside from flipping Netanyahu the bird at the moment. Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff has brought in some help with those talks and he couldn’t have picked anyone worse if he tried, because he’s now brought in Tony Blair as part of the US delegation pursuing that Gaza peace plan. Blair, will forever be remembered for his disastrous role in the Iraq War, his post-premiership support for Israeli policies and status in the Middle East laughably as a peace envoy and of course the empty cell at the Hague he ought to be occupying. He appears constantly like a bad smell instead of disappearing into obscurity like so many of us wish he would.
But perhaps the most explosive possibility is that Trump may choose to recognize a Palestinian state. Recognition would not only deeply undermine Netanyahu, but it would also reinvigorate the Abraham Accords, which is Trump’s baby, by creating a foundation for broader Arab-Israeli cooperation, notably it’s a condition Saudi Arabia put on normalising relations with Israel, even though Netanyahu still wouldn’t appreciate it.
Recognition of Palestine would significantly shift the diplomatic balance and put tremendous pressure on Israel to halt its Gaza campaign and come to the negotiating table. The US would no longer in theory be able to veto security council votes if they also recognise Palestine, it could threaten those arms sales, to Israel if Israel are thought to be prepared to use them in Gaza and the West Bank, which of course they would and as awful as Trump is, he’d gain significant praise globally for doing it. I fancy that is one stretch too far though, yet it has come up in conversations.
Polls now show that US public opinion is turning sharply against Israel and as much as Trump has cracked down on Palestine protesters, nobody would be surprised if he did a complete 180 now he;’s not on speaking terms with Netanyahu. Of course that may not last either, for exactly the same reason. Nevertheless, younger Americans, particularly progressives and even some conservatives, are increasingly critical of Israel's conduct in Gaza. Trump, may just be reading the room right now. By distancing himself from Netanyahu, it can’t possibly hurt him and he can reshape his "America First" identity to reject the notion that American interests must always be subordinated to Israeli ones, which has warranted mockery of Israel First in media.
Back in Israel, Netanyahu's political base is unravelling. Massive protests in Tel Aviv demand an immediate ceasefire and the return of hostages. The Israeli public is no longer unified behind Netanyahu's war aims and hasn’t been for some time. Trump's cold shoulder is further emboldening protesters and undermining Netanyahu's narrative of American support.
Without Trump's backing, Netanyahu is politically adrift and isolated. His attempts to portray the war in Gaza as a righteous cause defending Western civilization, that the terrorists will come for the west next is ringing hollow, especially as former allies like Trump now view him, for now at least, as a liability rather than an asset.
Whether this strategic divorce between Trump and Netanyahu becomes permanent or merely serves as a pressure tactic, or switches again when politically expedient remains to be seen. But if Netanyahu's days of unchecked influence in Washington are finally over it can only be a good thing.
Meanwhile, as if Israel is not causing enough problems on enough world stages, they may have been implicated in the conflict that recently flared up between India and Pakistan too, get all the details of their involvement there in this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch. Please do also hit like, share and subscribe if you haven’t done so already so as to ensure you don’t miss out on all new daily content as well as spreading the word and helping to support the channel at the same time which is very much appreciated, holding power to account for ordinary working class people and I will hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.