Middle East: Trump's visit a cold shoulder to Israel?

AWANI

U.S. President Donald Trump notably excluded Israel from his tour of the Gulf states, breaking decades of tradition. Assoc Prof Saeed Khan from Wayne State University weighs in on this diplomatic pivot.

Transcript

00:00In a striking shift that's reshaping Middle East politics,

00:04we're witnessing what appears to be an unprecedented cooling in relations between

00:08US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

00:12Just months into his second administration, Trump has notably excluded Israel from his

00:18latest international tour of the Gulf states, a decision that breaks decades of diplomatic

00:23tradition. Even more surprising, the president who once scrapped the Iran nuclear deal is now

00:29pursuing direct negotiations with Tehran, reportedly blindsiding his Israeli counterparts.

00:35For an analysis on this diplomatic pivot, we turn to Associate Professor Sai Han from Wayne State

00:40University. It definitely is a bit premature to then posit whether this is going to be a long-term

00:50strategy for the United States as a whole and even for that matter for President Trump himself.

00:57But at this very moment, we do see a substantial shift. One of these seems to be perhaps based on a

01:06very personal level between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump. While there are the usual

01:12platitudes and while there are the usual posturings between the American president and the Israeli

01:18Prime Minister, which is more of a matter, it seems, of custom and tradition than anything else,

01:23now we see a bit of a cooling off. And perhaps a lot of this may be motivated and directed more because of

01:31President Trump's ego, feeling as though Netanyahu has been playing him, taking advantage of him, something that

01:39someone of Trump's personality will not abide. Whatever the reasons might be, it seems as though there is a bit more

01:47frost on the relationship. We find that reporting in the United States indicated that the former National

01:56Security Advisor Michael Waltz was removed from that position, ostensibly because he was too closely aligned

02:05with Netanyahu, particularly in calling for military strikes on Iran. Now, it seems as though Trump does not want that. He, in fact, has said,

02:15even on this current trip, in several different overtures, that he is seeking some kind of a negotiated settlement with Iran,

02:23using diplomacy as the proverbial carrot, and moving away from the stick, so to speak, that had been employed for so long. Now, of course,

02:32the irony is not lost that it is Trump himself, who took the United States out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,

02:40also known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, when he came to office in his first term, perhaps more out of a sense of

02:48personal animus to its architect, former President Obama, than anything else. But now we find that Trump is, in fact,

02:55using a similar playbook of appealing to the regime in Iran to reach a negotiated settlement, trying to offer them

03:04sanctions in lieu of the pledge not to develop a military nuclear program. And it seems as though that

03:14kind of direct negotiation, as well as the direct negotiation that Trump has been engaged with regarding

03:22Hamas, blindsided Israel, and particularly Netanyahu, who expects, as have most Israeli prime ministers, to be

03:33advised and to be apprised of what Washington is planning on doing. And in fact, in many cases, having

03:41the right reserved for objection, or even refusal of such policies. It also indicates that the Trump

03:47administration seems to be more airtight, that there are not the leaks that would tip off Israel about

03:57these policies. Waltz was seen as being the problematic individual. And therefore, it seems as though he was

04:03removed for that reason. But it is unprecedented that a US president making a trip to the region is

04:11completely keeping Israel off the list of destinations, whether stopping there first, or stopping there in

04:18this case at all, is quite surprising, and seems to indicate, as I said before, definitely a chilling effect

04:27between the United States and Israel.

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