Noga Tarnopolsky: Possible Middle East shifts under Trump

The Middle East has faced ups and downs since US President Donald Trump’s inauguration with possible risks looming, Journalist Noga Tarnopolsky says.

Transcript

00:00In my part of the world, we've had a lot of ups and downs.

00:04Initially, what we heard really on the day of the inauguration

00:08was that his new Middle Eastern envoy, Steve Witkoff,

00:12had basically read the riot act to Prime Minister Netanyahu

00:16using obscenities and said, you get this deal done.

00:20And so the majority of Israelis who want the hostages back,

00:24who are absolutely ready for the war to be over,

00:28thought, oh my goodness, President Trump is the one who's going to get us

00:32what our government has shied away from for months.

00:35Remember that the agreement that was finally realized as of January 19th

00:41is the same agreement, the Israeli government says it,

00:44it's the same agreement that was on the table at the end of May.

00:47And many, many lives, many lives have been lost since then.

00:52So that started, then Donald Trump began talking about owning,

00:58personally owning Gaza and turning it into a Riviera.

01:01In Israel, there was a lot of amusement about this.

01:04Prime Minister Netanyahu has boasted about this as a historic achievement for Israel.

01:09And now we're seeing the very scary reality

01:13that statements by this American president have impact on the region

01:18that could radically change reality.

01:21Good, possibly for the better, but certainly also for the worse.

01:24And the people who are going to pay the price are Jews and Arabs in this region.