US-Israel: Steadfast Allies, Personality Clash

The US has been a steadfast ally of Israel for decades, transforming a Cold War-era partnership into a close relationship possessing deep religious, cultural and political components. The current iteration of the decades-long Gaza conflict between Israel and Hamas, triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, has created rifts between the US and Israel over issues pertaining to use of force by Israel. These tensions escalated during the administration of former US President Joe Biden. Despite campaigning on strong support for Israel, US President Donald Trump, through words and action, appears to have distanced himself from the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when it comes to Gaza while publicly claiming otherwise. Trump’s continued support for the state of Israel, however, remains as strong as ever.

In the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, the issue of US support for Israel was one of the main foreign policy issues being weighed by the US electorate. There was widespread dissatisfaction with the policies of the Biden administration, seen by some US voters as being too deferential, and by others as too restrictive. Trump’s nascent isolationism, combined with his history of personal animosity with Netanyahu, created an atmosphere of unpredictability that troubled many US supporters of Israel.

On the campaign trail, Trump, consistently appealed to pro-Israel voters, saying that Israel needed to win the conflict in Gaza and Hamas needed to be destroyed. Trump also made it clear that he would not seek to micromanage the conflict but rather give Israel all the support — military and political — that it needed to prevail over Hamas. Trump echoed Israeli concerns when it came to Iran, linking Hamas with Iran and indicating that he would take a stronger line against any Iranian support for either Hamas or Hezbollah, as well as Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, deemed by Israel as presenting an existential threat.

Making It Personal

But Trump also campaigned on a platform that promoted bringing peace to the Middle East and keeping the US out of regional conflicts. In this regard, Trump was instrumental in helping the Biden administration clinch a ceasefire plan it had been pursuing since May 2024. Trump’s victory in the November election confronted Hamas with the reality that the Biden ceasefire agreement was the best deal it was going to get. Ongoing pressure on Hezbollah, combined with the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, created a window of opportunity that Trump exploited effectively. Despite the continued objections of the Netanyahu, Trump’s public calls for a ceasefire before his inauguration added pressure during the final phase of talks.

One of the interesting aspects of the run-up to the ceasefire was the personal dynamic between the Israeli prime minister and the US president-elect. Netanyahu’s continued resistance to any ceasefire agreement was reportedly viewed by Trump as an effort to draw the US into a larger conflict with Iran. Trump did more than treat this difference as a simple policy dispute — he made it personal.

Less than two weeks before his inauguration, Trump posted a video clip on Truth Social of Columbia University economics professor Jeffrey Sachs in which Sachs blamed Netanyahu for the US wars in the Middle East. “Netanyahu had,” Sachs noted in the video, “from 1995 on, the theory that the only way we are going to get rid of Hamas and Hezbollah is by toppling the governments that support them. That’s Iraq, Syria and Iran,” he declared, before adding that “he [Netanyahu] is still trying to get us to fight Iran this day.”

Trump’s decision to share that material was interpreted by some observers as an indication of his personal animosity toward Netanyahu, a clear example of how personal animus carried over into matters of the state.

Strictly Business

There’s a scene in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 classic film, “The Godfather,” where Michael Corleone, played by Al Pacino, plots the murder of a corrupt police officer and rival mob leader. “It’s not personal, Sonny,” Michael tells his older brother, played by James Caan. “It’s strictly business.”

Trump’s business is politics. There is no doubt that his personal relationship with Netanyahu is complex — they are both, after all, strong-willed leaders who firmly believe that they are uniquely positioned to act as the vectors of salvation for their respective nations. One of the problems confronting Trump is that his vision of Middle East peace clashes with Netanyahu’s vision of Israeli dominance achieved through force of arms.

In the world of politics, often the main issue discussed isn’t the viability of the idea itself but rather the credibility of the person promoting the idea. In this, Trump, understanding full well the political implications of publicly criticizing Israel for policies he disagrees with, appears to have instead turned his sights on Netanyahu. Trump holds a grudge against the Israeli prime minister dating back to November 2020, when Netanyahu congratulated Biden for winning the election at a time when Trump was actively contesting the results. Some observers cited this grudge when trying to explain Trump’s comments in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, where Trump criticized Netanyahu for being unprepared and indecisive. Trump further criticized Netanyahu for allegedly withdrawing, at the last second, Israeli support for the assassination of Iranian Quds Force leader Qassem Suleimani on Jan. 3, 2020.

But Trump’s public criticism of Netanyahu does not translate into criticism of Israel. Indeed, if anything, his negativity toward Netanyahu contrasts with his wholehearted and unambiguous support for the Israeli nation and its people, which resonated strongly in the lead-up to Trump’s electoral victory in November 2024 and continues to rally supporters to his cause today.

Trump has authorized the transfer of large quantities of weapons to Israel and green-lighted Israeli military operations inside Gaza while remaining largely silent on the issue of Israeli violations of the Trump-backed ceasefire agreement. Trump has also backed Israel’s actions in Lebanon and Syria.

But Trump has also segregated Israeli interests from those of the US on two high-profile occasions. First, Trump, for now, has rejected Netanyahu’s preferred policy option of conducting military strikes against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, preferring instead to seek a negotiated settlement. Second, Trump endorsed a ceasefire deal with the Houthis that saw the US halt air strikes against Yemen in exchange for the Houthis agreeing to cease attacks on US shipping in the Red Sea. This agreement bypassed Israel — with the Houthis pledging to abide by the US ceasefire but continue to strike Israel until the war in Gaza ends — prompting concern in Jerusalem.

Trump’s objectives vis-a-vis the Middle East appear to be closely tied to the full realization of the goals and objectives inherent in the Abraham Accords, one of the major foreign policy accomplishments during his first term. A key element of the accords is the normalization of relations between Israel and the Gulf Arab nations —initially involving the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and later Morocco and Sudan. Israel’s ongoing military action in Gaza, which has drawn international criticism over extensive civilian casualties, has become a major obstacle to the fulfilment of Trump’s vision, particularly of bringing Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accords. Trump must navigate a tightrope of social and political pressures in separating himself from Israeli actions in Gaza without alienating himself from Israel and its supporters in the US.

To accomplish this, he often sets his sights on Benjamin Netanyahu. It’s not personal, however. It’s strictly business.

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