Ukrainian, Israeli, and British Leaders’ Different Approaches to Donald Trump

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Events seem to be happening at an ever-increasing pace, both in Israel and in the wider world. This may have something to do with the current occupant of the White House, who appears to have set himself the task of stirring up worldwide anxiety and mayhem, probably in order to gain greater control of everything and everyone.

When Ukrainian President Zelensky engaged in a verbal confrontation with Donald Trump, the latter backed by Vice-President JD Vance, during a very public exchange of views my first thought was, ‘why doesn’t he just shut up?’ It was obvious that Zelensky wasn’t going to gain anything by trying to talk over Trump and his associate, however justified his case might have been. The next day Zelensky was feted in London, but aid from Europe cannot compete with the aid provided by the USA.

Anyone who has been following events in the USA knows that Donald Trump brooks no contradiction or opposition, and is intent on promoting his agenda, for good or for bad, through thick and thin. Diplomacy was evidently not on Zelensky’s curriculum at presidency school, so that his determination to just get his point across was never going to help him in his quest to gain continued support from the American president.

What a contrast with the self-serving obsequiousness and flattery evinced by Israel’s Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu at his meeting with Trump a few days earlier. Netanyahu’s performance achieved exactly the kind of support he was seeking, making him the butt of Israel’s cynical media but achieving exactly the backing he wanted and needed from the USA.

In between these two meetings with the American president came the meeting with Britain’s Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, which seemed to achieve a fine balance between sycophancy and opposition, concluding with his ‘trump card,’ an invitation for the President to engage in a state visit to the U.K. with the added lure of a handwritten invitation from King Charles himself. Knowing the President’s adulation of the monarchy, amidst his lack of respect for almost all American democratic institutions, nothing could have had a better effect.

So, the conclusion seems to be that it is advisable, considering Trump’s obvious quirks and foibles, to pander to his ego, butter him up as much as possible, and thereby gain one’s objective. Zelensky has since sent a letter of quasi-apology to Trump, conceding the points made by the President in the interview and agreeing to grant the USA mining rights for the minerals lying under Ukrainian soil. It remains to be seen whether this will achieve the desired aim of restoring the influx of American aid and weapons to poor war-torn Ukraine.

The lesson for Israel is loud and clear. Don’t mess with the boss. The flow of support and weapons can be cut off at any time, and that is something that nobody in Israel wants.

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson is an author and freelance writer based in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevasseret Zion, Israel.