By Steve Kramer
KFAR SABA, Israel — The majority of Israelis were jubilant when Donald Trump won the presidency of the United States for a non-consecutive second time, a feat only accomplished by one other president, Grover Cleveland (elected 1885 & 1893). This victory makes Trump the dominant American politician of the 21st century – up to now. In the first Trump administration, Israelis and Western supporters of Israel were thrilled by his acts promoting the Jewish State: proclaiming America’s support of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem, legitimizing Israeli communities beyond the 1949 Armistice Line, and announcing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
The Abraham Accords agreement is another significant accomplishment for Trump. It signaled a new approach to the Middle East which ended the false belief that the failure of Israel to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority was the ultimate cause of discord and war in the Middle East.
Trump’s policy of maximum pressure against Iran and its drive for nuclear weapons was yet another triumph which, if it had not been ended by the Biden Administration, would have brought Iran to its knees due to bankruptcy (my opinion). Instead, Biden gave untold billions of dollars (estimates as high as $250 billion!) to Iran to support the mullahs’ autocracy and to supply Iran’s proxies with armaments which threatened to destroy Israel.
So, Trump’s November 2024 victory is seen as a game changer for Israel, nullifying much of the Biden agenda and installing a much needed, friendly American ally to back up Israel. But not all signs indicate that outcome. On the plus side are very Zionist appointees: Marco Rubio, Secretary of State; Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense; Mike Waltz, National Security Advisor; Elise Stefanik, US Ambassador to the UN; Mike Huckabee, US Ambassador to Israel; and many others.
President Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steven Witkoff, is a neophyte to Middle Eastern affairs. A real estate billionaire and friend of the president, Witkoff has no prior experience in diplomacy. As a wheeler-dealer in the world of international real estate, Witkoff has made very lucrative deals with Qatar, which seems to have convinced him and the president that Qatar is a USA friendly intermediary between Israel and the Arabs. This is a very dangerous and naive belief.
Qatar is and has been a supporter of Jihadist regimes: Tablet Magazine reports: “Think tanks, universities, museums, newspapers, and key congressional committees are all pieces in a game of 3D chess that the tiny Gulf state is playing with its rivals, using Washington, D.C., as its game board.”
Middle East pundit Yisrael Medad wrote in the Jerusalem Post: “In 2023, Witkoff managed to sell a property he owned, Manhattan’s Park Lane Hotel, to the Qatari Investment Authority, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, for $623 million. Also taking a stake was Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund. And while politics makes for strange bedfellows, money makes for stranger ones. Middle East Media Research Institute’s Yigal Carmon is very critical of Qatar’s ‘corrosive influence,’ on Western society. Through its financial might, investments in American business sectors, and funding to universities and cultural institutions, Qatar is pushing a campaign to weaken Western powers and increase Islamic influence even as it benefits economically. If Trump’s close advisers are also involved, supervision must be in place.”
Since 2012, Qatar has ‘gifted’ American universities $3.28 billion.
There are other questionable appointments which concern Israel’s friends. Massad Boulos is slated to be a senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. He is the Lebanese American father-in-law of the president’s daughter, Tiffany Trump. Boulos led outreach for Trump to Arab-American communities during the recent election campaign.
More alarming is the president’s pick for Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, Michael DiMino. He was military analyst at the CIA and an official at the Defense Department during the first Trump administration and will report directly to Secretary Hegseth. Significantly, DiMino discounts bombing the Houthis. He also calls for continued American pressure on Israel and he believes that the US has no critical interests in the Middle East.
“DiMino, a former military analyst at the CIA and a Defense Department official under Trump’s first term, recently served as a fellow at Defense Priorities, a think tank advocating for reduced U.S. engagement in the Middle East,” Yeshiva World reported. “His comments and policy stances have drawn sharp criticism for downplaying threats from Iran and its proxies and for opposing traditional U.S. military strategies in the region.”
At this point it’s hard to say how the new Trump administration will treat Israel. Cuddling up to Qatar is not a good sign, but it’s just part of the equation. Perhaps the most important development benefiting the entire region would be the hoped-for membership of Saudi Arabia in the Abraham Accords. According to the Times of Israel, the Saudis have a prerequisite for a two-state solution with the Palestinian Arabs before associating with Israel. This is a no-go for Israelis of almost all political stripes after the October 7 massacre. There is almost no left wing in Israeli politics at this point.
In his last administration, President Trump hired and fired appointees constantly. But now the president is a much more experienced head of government. A characteristic of President Trump is that no one can be sure which way Trump might “jump” in difficult situations. Let’s hope that the preponderance of friends of Israel among his appointees will ensure relatively smooth relations between Israel and its chief ally. Right now we only hope that there will be no ambiguity in the president’s positive attitude towards Israel.
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Steve Kramer is an American Israeli freelance writer based in Kfar Saba, Israel.