Trump is throwing Israel under the bus. Will Netanyahu allow it?

The direct negotiation between the Trump administration and Hamas is one of the lowest, most disloyal, and unethical moves that a so-called “ally” could ever conduct. According to the latest news, American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander could be released in the next 24-48 hours and US special envoy, Steven Witkoff, is set to arrive in Israel on Monday to facilitate the release. It also emerged that the US did not brief Israel on the efforts to release Alexander until after reaching the deal, basically conducting everything behind Israel’s back.

On Sunday, during a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu did not rule out the possibility that Hamas would release Alexander “as a gesture to the Americans”. Was the Israeli government aware of the negotiations? Even if not, the scenario was at least predictable, since Trump had already turned his back on Israel a few days ago by suddenly cutting a deal with the Houthis, as long as US ships would not be targeted. The path taken with Hamas seems to be very similar. Is this what “America first” means?

Indeed, Hamas is cleverly exploiting the situation to obtain four main objectives: widening the rift between the Trump administration and Israel, stopping Israel from launching the alleged wide scale operation that Netanyahu has been announcing, allowing aid into Gaza and possibly ending the war with the reassurance that the terrorist organization will be allowed to play some role in the post-war Gaza.

Trump, on the other hand, needs to present himself as a great friend of the Arab world in his upcoming visit to the Middle East because he desperately needs to cut business deals with the three main energy-rich Arab nations in the area: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

As CNN reported, these three countries “are racing to turn their influence over Donald Trump into tangible gains. They have built personal ties with the president and collectively pledged trillions in US investments while casting themselves as key intermediaries in conflicts Trump wants to resolve, from Gaza to Ukraine and Iran.” Let’s not forget the recent rumors about Trump renaming the Persian Gulf as “Gulf of Arabia” and even potentially recognizing a Palestinian state. Overall, it’s a win-win situation for everyone, except for Israel who is being sacrificed by its closest ally, because Trump needs to cut deals.

On Sunday evening, the Times of Israel revealed that a source involved in the mediation stated that Hamas has received assurances from the US through mediators that Alexander’s release “would go a long way” with US President Donald Trump who wants to see the remaining hostages released and for the war in Gaza to end.

The situation is very ugly; the Trump administration directly engaged with a Palestinian terrorist organization blacklisted by the US itself; an organization that perpetrated the worst pogrom against the Jews since the Holocaust. Trump’s men negotiated the release of only one hostage, the only US citizen, therefore discriminating between American and non-American Jews. Is this the kind of support expected from a so-called “ally”? How could the relatives of the other hostages still held by Hamas feel?

Furthermore, by directly engaging with Hamas and cutting a deal, Trump is legitimizing and empowering the Palestinian terrorist organization while indirectly encouraging other nations to recognize Hamas as a legitimate political entity rather than for what it really is, a ruthless terrorist organization. Hamas will now be encouraged to perpetrate more terror attacks because it feels reassured by Trump’s reckless policy.

Trump seems unable or unwilling to distinguish between agreement and business deals with legitimate partners and negotiating with a terrorist entity, and that is a very significant problem for the international war on terror and also for US international credibility.

Will Trump succeed in pressuring Israel to cease the military offensive against what remains of Hamas or even end the war? It is now up to PM Benjamin Netanyahu. The right thing to do would be to rapidly launch the wide-scale military operation in Gaza that has been announced and finish the job with Hamas; something that should have already been done months ago.

The longer the situation in Gaza drags on, the worse it will be for Israel, both domestically and internationally, from both an economic and a diplomatic perspective. Hamas must be quickly removed and a new phase must be reached to no longer allow Israel’s enemies to exploit the crisis in Gaza to accuse Israel of “genocide”, “ethnic cleansing” and so on.

Unfortunately, the impression is that there has never been a real will, on Netanyahu’s part, to eradicate Hamas from Gaza. The war has been conducted in fits and starts, which is detrimental to the troops’ morale and to the image of the IDF. The numerous announcements of an imminent military ground operation that would have suffocated Hamas have not been followed up on a practical level. In short, something is not working on both sides, both on the American side and on the Israeli side.