Trump shrugs off Netanyahu on Gulf tour

Jerusalem: When President Donald Trump shook hands with Syria's new leader and promised to lift sanctions on his country at the Saudi royal palace last week, it was a vivid demonstration of how the president's Middle East diplomacy has all but sidelined Israel.

"Tough guy, very strong past," Trump said about President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who once had ties with al-Qaida. Trump said he was ending the sanctions, many of which had been imposed on Syria's previous government, "to give them a chance at greatness."

In doing so, Trump was effectively shrugging off the views of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government calls al-Sharaa a "jihadi." Israel's military has bombed Syria hundreds of times since December, when rebels led by al-Sharaa ousted President Bashar Assad from power.

In recent decades, under US presidents from both parties, Israel has largely enjoyed a special place at the center of US foreign policy in the region. Netanyahu, who has been in power for much of the past two decades, was always an essential player in the Middle East debate, even as he sometimes infuriated his American counterparts.

There is no indication that the United States is abandoning its historic ties with Israel, or will stop its military and economic support for the country. During his flight on Air Force One from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to Doha, Qatar, Trump dismissed concerns about sidelining Israel.

"No not at all," he told reporters. "This is good for Israel, having a relationship like I have with these countries, Middle Eastern countries, essentially all of them."

But Trump's five-day tour through the Middle East last week underscored a new dynamic, one in which Israel -- and Netanyahu, in particular -- is something of an afterthought. In Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Trump has sought to negotiate peace deals in Iran and Yemen and cut trillion-dollar business deals with the wealthy nations of the Persian Gulf.

He did not make a stop in Israel.

"The overall sense is of shifting attention and perception of interest, mainly to the Gulf States, where the money is," said Itamar Rabinovich, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States.

Rabinovich said that Trump appears to have lost much of his interest in working with Netanyahu to resolve the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, because of "a sense that there's no point. Netanyahu has his position, he doesn't move from it. Hamas doesn't move from its position. It seems like a hopeless stalemate."

Omer Dostri, Netanyahu's spokesperson, denied any serious rift in relations between the two countries, citing Netanyahu's two visits to the White House in the last several months and Trump's recent comment that "we are on the same side on every issue," referring to the Israeli prime minister.

But the change in diplomatic fortunes has been hard to miss during the last few weeks, as Trump took action on one issue after another -- without involving Netanyahu.

Earlier this month, Trump surprised many in Israel by abruptly announcing a ceasefire with the Houthi militants in Yemen, even as the group continued to fire missiles into Israel. When Israel failed to intercept one missile, it struck the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, disrupting flights for weeks.

Days later, the Trump administration secured the release of Edan Alexander, the last living American hostage in Gaza, without Israel's involvement.

Nadav Shtrauchler, a former adviser to Netanyahu, said that the prime minister still has a relationship with Trump, but it is different from the one he has had with previous American presidents.

"With Biden, Netanyahu could postpone decisions," he said. "In Trump's case, as soon as that happens, the decisions are made over Netanyahu's head. This is a change that worries many people in Israel."

Throughout his Middle East visit, Trump has repeated his desire for a deal with Iran that would avoid the need to use military force against its nuclear facilities. In Qatar on Thursday, he said the United States was in "very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace," adding that it would be "fantastic" if they reached a deal.

That is also the opposite of what Netanyahu has said he wanted. The Israeli prime minister has urged the Trump administration to support, or even participate in, military strikes against Iran. So far, Trump has gone the other way, though he has repeatedly held open the possibility of large-scale strikes if negotiations fail.

"More than anything else, the heart of the story is Iran," Shtrauchler said. "Netanyahu's legacy is at stake."

The decision on how to deal with Iran is not unlike the president's decision to lift sanctions on Syria. There is deep suspicion in Israel that al-Sharaa's new government will turn out to be another anti-Israel, extremist force. Israeli officials say the strikes are meant to destroy the weapons from the regime of Assad, which Sharaa overthrew, and limit its presence near Israel's northern border.

By contrast, Trump's announcement about sanctions is an endorsement of al-Sharaa's promises to be different, and will throw him a desperately needed economic lifeline.

Taken together, the president's actions are a stunning turnaround, even from Trump's own first term, when he visited Israel during his first foreign trip abroad. One of his first official acts on that trip was to announce that the United States would move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a symbolic show of solidarity with Netanyahu by his side.

The shift has shaken Israelis.

Reports in Israeli newspapers and international headlines blared the hand wringing: "Bypassed by Trump, Israel dismayed but silent"; "Trump's Snubs: What Netanyahu's Declining Global Prowess Means for His Fortunes at Home"; "White House signals fatigue with Netanyahu"; "Trump's Middle East trip leaves Netanyahu watching from the sidelines again."

For now, Trump appears unlikely to reverse course, even as his aides insist that his relationship with Netanyahu remains strong. The president is no longer treating Israel like the indispensable nation in the Middle East or the lone democracy in a sea of autocracy.

Militarily, the United States relies on vast bases in Saudi Arabia and Qatar to project force in the region, including the sprawling Al Udeid Air Base just outside of Doha. Trump has sought to deepen relations with Turkey, a NATO member that has harshly criticized Israel's war in Gaza, which have escalated to personal insults between Netanyahu and the Turkish president.

Economically, Trump views the Gulf nations as reliable -- and reliably wealthy -- places to do business. Trump wants Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords in a normalization deal with Israel but appears to have recognized it will not happen while the war in Gaza is still raging. Instead, he has focused on business deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

In a speech in Riyadh on Tuesday, Trump heralded the "bright future of the Middle East" and praised the leaders of "a modern and rising" region.

"A new generation of leaders is transcending the ancient conflicts of tired divisions of the past and forging a future," he said, "where people of different nations, religions, and creeds are building cities together, not bombing each other out of existence."

He mentioned Israel only in passing. Instead, he focused on the Gulf leaders who vastly expanded what he called the "gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi" over the past decade. The focus of the speech, and its tone, was a dramatic shift from those delivered by his predecessors.

For Israel, and for Netanyahu, that shift carries long-term implications. But so far, the prime minister has shown little interest in shifting his approach to governing or his conduct of his country's conflicts with Hamas, Iran, Syria or Yemen.

Even as Trump traveled through the Gulf, promising a new future in the region, Israeli forces intensified their attacks in Gaza with a fierce strike aimed at a senior Hamas leader and a response to missile attacks that killed dozens of Palestinians near the northern Gaza city of Jabalia.

In comments during the trip, Trump acknowledged the threat of starvation in Gaza, even as the Israeli political leadership, including Netanyahu, have downplayed that concern. But for the most part, the president's main focus throughout the trip was elsewhere.