Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of
the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.
Donald Trump, during his previous administration, brought us
the Abraham Accords and established a U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. This time
around, Israeli Americans voted for him in droves, there being a general feeling
among us that Biden was bad for Israel and Trump the opposite of that. We were
frightened for our hostages, needed weapons, and more importantly a strong voice
in support of our war on Hamas. Trump appeared to tick all the boxes. We had
high hopes.
It began so well. The president gave Israel carte blanche to
do
as it pleased in Gaza and helped us fight the Houthis. And though there was
a feeling that the president was being wildly misled by Qatari
puppet Witkoff, he was a good friend to Israel. We appreciated it and were
glad we voted for him.
Then rumors of a rift began to flow, a narrative built from
a sequence of events. The US would no longer help Israel fight
the Houthis. Israel was excluded from the itinerary of Donald Trump’s Middle
East tour. Trump accepted a very expensive private plane
from Qatar. There was a secret
US deal to free Edan Alexander that was in the works for months without Israel’s
knowledge. The murmurs that Trump has turned against Israel have been gathering steam. Nobody I know wants to talk about it much, but there is thick nervous tension
in the air.
That’s my sense, at least, though I keep looking for
articles that prove me wrong. I don’t want to believe there’s a rift. But I don’t
like the way Trump kept us out of negotiations for Edan Alexander and made us
look weak, made Bibi look ineffectual, not in Trump’s good graces. I do
understand that America and Americans come first, but in my view, the way this deal
was done was really not cool.
It didn’t help that Edan Alexander’s mother Yael, pointedly thanked everyone but Netanyahu for freeing her son from captivity. Her failure to acknowledge him spoke
volumes, especially since the deal was negotiated behind Israel’s back, making
Bibi look sidelined.
Witkoff, of course, couldn’t help but rub it in, telling the hostage families that if only Israelis weren’t so divided, we’d be strong, the war would end, and the
hostages come home. That was the sense of what he said anyway, if not his
actual words.
But not everyone is worried. Ruthie Blum, senior contributing
editor at JNS, for example, believes the buzz is baseless. In a recent op-ed, Is
Trump Really Turning His Back on Bibi and Israel?, Blum says the gossip
comes from two agenda-driven sources, isolationists and anti-Netanyahu Israelis.
She also notes “conflicting versions of what is essentially gossip in disguise.”
Blum’s does an able job dissecting all the scuttlebutt. She paints
a reassuring picture of how things stand between Israel and President Trump, and
points to a recent meeting between Israel's Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron
Dermer with several important members of the Trump team. "Another clue
that Washington hasn’t turned its back on Jerusalem is that U.S. Vice President
JD Vance, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (doubling as interim national
security advisor) and special Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff were present at the
powwow [with Dermer]."
The meeting does suggest that the relationship remains strong. At
the same time, JD Vance is a known isolationist, who in October said of the
US-Israel relationship, “Sometimes we’re going to have overlapping interests,
and sometimes
we’re going to have distinct interests. And our interest very much is in
not going to war with Iran. It would be a huge distraction of resources. It
would be massively expensive to our country.”
I asked Blum if, as she contends, isolationists are responsible
for the rumors of a rift, how do we know that JD Vance isn’t leading the charge
and what does this portend for the future? Vance may very well be the next
president of the United States.
“Had those leaning in an isolationist direction reprimanded
Dermer, it would have been a bad sign. We know this didn't happen, however,
since it would have been front page ‘news,’ given all the media mudslinging
about Dermer's supposedly being "arrogant" and a source of irritation,”
“Nothing so far suggests that there's a rift between
Washington and Jerusalem,” said Blum. “And the fact that Trump didn't make
Israel part of his Mideast trip this week is actually a good thing. The last
thing he needs is for it to appear that America is doing Israel's bidding in
the region.”
Ruthie Blum, it seems, is betting on Trump playing a long
game, not cutting ties. That makes a lot of sense. That does seem to be the way
Trump operates.
But there are other voices. An Arab political analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity, had a completely different take. “Trump is being played by the Islamists. Sadly, he has chosen to align himself with the bad guys. Many Arabs are convinced that he has thrown Israel under the bus and that he could be easily bought with their charm, hospitality and money. This does not bode well for the future of the region, especially because his actions and rhetoric embolden the radical Muslims.”
Wait.
— Yisrael Medad (@ymedad) January 16, 2025
Is Witkoff in Qatar's pocket?https://t.co/Lc80AIjpDx
andhttps://t.co/szajrm4H9S
I think it is true to a degree that Trump is being played by
the Islamists. For me, the proof of that is Witkoff’s admission in March
that he had been duped
by Hamas into thinking they had accepted his proposal to extend the
ceasefire when they had no intention of doing so. “I thought we had an
acceptable deal. I even thought we had an approval from Hamas. Maybe that’s
just me getting duped. I thought we were there, and evidently we weren’t."
Well, duh. Of course you were getting duped. Did you expect
fairness and honesty from Hamas?
Witkoff is Trump’s guy on this. Trump trusts Witkoff knows
what he’s doing. Ergo, when Witkoff is duped by Hamas, by default so is Donald
J. Trump.
Has Trump turned cold toward Israel and its prime minister? Ruthie Blum says no. It’s only a mirage, stirred up by political vultures. Others say Trump is falling for Qatar’s charm and risking a regional firestorm by expressing a willingness to negotiate with Iran. It is unfortunate, but Donald Trump’s weakness for flattery could very well make him ripe for Qatar’s game. Let’s hope the president sees through all the ceremonial fawning and glitz, and understands that it is Israel, and Israel alone, who stands as America’s always faithful ally in the Middle East.
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