Trump's Middle East trip has shown he is not Netanyahu's patsy
Donald Trump's Middle East visit – his first major international trip since his return to office – is as notable for where he isn't going as where he is.
The United States President has found time in his schedule to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates but has conspicuously avoided travelling to Israel. The absence could have been regarded as curious oversight were it not reflective of a deeper dynamic developing between the Trump administration and Benjamin Netanyahu's Israeli government.
These previously subterranean tensions have burst to the surface in recent days across multiple fronts. 'I think what you're seeing is the Israelis recognising that as much as they welcomed the election of President Trump and thought that would really give them a blank cheque to pursue whatever agenda they wanted, Trump has his own agenda,' Frank Lowenstein, a former Middle East envoy under the Obama administration, said during a virtual briefing organised by J Street, an advocacy organisation that describes itself as pro-Israel and pro-peace.
It would be overblown to describe the US-Israeli tensions as a crisis or even a rupture. But Trump is keeping Netanyahu off balance, and is showing he is certainly not the Israeli prime minister's patsy. The implications for the Middle East and the war with Gaza, like so much with a volatile figure like Trump, will be profound and unpredictable.
First came Trump's announcement last week that the US would immediately halt its military campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen after the Houthis agreed to stop firing on US ships in the Red Sea. The agreement reportedly blindsided and infuriated Netanyahu, especially given it came right after the Houthis attacked Israel with a missile that hit close to the nation's main airport.
Trump made clear he is more interested in reducing consumer prices in the US by freeing up international shipping routes than providing security protection for Israel. Importantly, Trump's vow to impose a 17 per cent tariff on Israeli goods still remains despite Netanyahu quickly flying to Washington DC last month to try to secure an exemption.
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Secondly, the Trump administration negotiated directly with Hamas to secure the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander. The Trump administration cut Israel out of the negotiations, using a secret back channel to secure the one-off agreement with Hamas that the listed terror group has framed as an act of goodwill. Israel was reportedly forced to rely on its intelligence agencies, rather than the US, to learn about the deal. Israelis, of course, have welcomed Alexander's release, but the agreement has raised uncomfortable questions about why Israelis with dual nationality can be put on a fast-track to freedom while those with only Israeli citizenship cannot.
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