Is it any wonder that Trump has turned his back on Israel?

Donald Trump, it appears, has turned his back on Netanyahu, the coalition and, by extension, Israel.

Iran has recently, it has been reported, agreed to pressure the Houthis into a truce with the USA; but the Houthis are quoted as saying that their attacks on Israel will continue.

More importantly, there is talk of a possible deal between Iran and the USA that will allow Iran to keep its nuclear capability for civilian purposes and will allow Iran to process uranium and plutonium, which are used for the production of nuclear-military purposes.

Now Binyamin Netanyahu will know – he was Israel’s ambassador to the UN from 1984 to 1988 – that an ambassador has limited scope in terms of determining his own brief and that he is accredited to a state in order both to take the political pulse of the host country and to represent his own.

America’s newly-appointed ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, recently interviewed by the Jerusalem Post, underscored the importance of the sanctity of life principle – and applied it to the hostages in Gaza and to Israel’s soldiers.

Smotrich has overriden Huckabee’s message by determining the present policy: eliminate Hamas first and free the hostages last.

In other words, Netanyahu’s coalition and Netanyahu have turned their backs on both the hostages and the soldiers.

And Trump, it seems, has turned his back on Netanyahu and the coalition for this and maybe for other, personal, reasons.

Trump’s decision here means that there may be wider implications for Israel in terms of America’s economic, political and defense-related support. So Israel suffers.

In a recent televised interview with the president, Donald Trump claimed that he was not going to do away with the constitutional prohibition of third terms for US presidents.

Did he reassure the Evangelists that their support would still be sought by his successors?

Why did Huckerbee, a Baptist with known evangelical views, seem so unperturbed in his most recent interview with the Times of Israel?

For the time being, Christian Evangelists must, it would seem, mothball their support and aspirations for Israel. So Evangelists have suffered.

For the time being, also, Trump is free to pursue his own private interests – his deals with Qatar and Saudi Arabia being of the greatest concern in terms of the future of Israel. Peace in the Middle East, his declared objective, has not been achieved – and may well not be achieved if Iran and Saudi Arabia become nuclear actors to be reckoned with. So Trump has and will suffer.

The waning support for Israel by Democrats is similarly concerning.

Could the answer be to turn to Europe?

Helping Ukraine defeat Russia – not by sending its ground forces, but by other means, would be helping Europe, for Russia wants not only Ukraine, but other European states, “back in the fold”.

Russia no longer poses a threat to Israel – whether in Syria, or in terms of its military prowess; neither can it rely on China to rush in and help.

Western Europe, led by Britain, France, and now Germany, is also turning away from America, though perhaps Western Europeans are not as worried about Russian encroachment as the liberals in Eastern Europe.

As long as NATO exists, however, West must help East and the two combined may return any assistance Israel may give Ukraine.