Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made his fifth visit to the United States since President Donald Trump took office in January. Ahead of the meeting between the two sides, Israeli media reported that the prime minister was intent on trying to appease his domestic political partners by achieving “concessions” from President Trump. What were these concessions? They were mainly related to the refusal of Turkiye’s presence in the Gaza Stabilization Force and the US approval of Israel’s attack on Iran.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has failed on both counts. President Trump made particular mention of his good relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and also spoke of “Bibi’s” respect for President Erdoğan. Regarding Iran, President Trump referred to Iran’s desire for a “deal,” said nothing about authorizing a solo Israeli operation, and provided clear guidelines for U.S. involvement. Israeli media has suggested that President Trump has given Israel the “green light” to attack Iran. That is not reflected in President Trump’s public statements at all.
President Trump said reconstruction of Gaza would begin “soon.” Speaking about the disarmament of Hamas, he said it must happen or nearly 60 countries will make it happen. Hamas has already agreed to disarm if this process is carried out by Palestinian-led forces. President Trump said nothing to suggest he disagreed with Hamas’ logic, especially given that most participating countries refuse to carry out violent disarmament of Hamas. Trump also did not mention the body of the last hostage being held in Gaza, a prerequisite for moving to “Phase 2” of the deal.
In Trump’s world, nothing is more important than the use of language and symbolic gestures. When President Trump called Netanyahu a “great wartime prime minister” while discussing a blueprint for “peace,” his guest made it clear that time was running out. This was evident when President Trump said he had spoken with Israel’s official head of state, President Isaac Herzog, about pardoning Prime Minister Netanyahu and was convinced a pardon was imminent. Incidentally, President Herzog flatly denied that such a conversation took place.
The best reflection of the Trump-Netanyahu meeting at Mar-a-Lago has to do with a brief telephone conversation between Trump and Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kish. The purpose of the call was to inform Trump that Kish would receive the Israel Prize on Israel’s Independence Day in 2026.
The award will be presented by the Minister of Education in a televised ceremony attended by Israeli leaders. This marks the official end of Independence Day celebrations. Most often, the recipient is a career academic in the later stages of their career. This award reflects a lifelong dedication to expanding human knowledge. In some cases, special awards are given in the civic category, but most are awarded for so-called “life work” such as promoting coexistence between Jews and Palestinians and promoting social equality.
As its name suggests, the award is almost always given to Israeli citizens, but it can also be given to Jews living abroad or non-Jews who have made “a special contribution to the Jewish people.”
In other words, the Trump-Netanyahu meeting consisted of Trump instructing Netanyahu on future steps and Netanyahu signaling acceptance by attracting attention and heaping yet another semi-imaginary honor on Trump’s already crowded head.
However, despite the clear evidence of the unequal nature of the relationship, there are persistent calls for President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu to be in cahoots. These analyzes show that the United States fully supports Israel’s efforts to “transform the Middle East,” in Netanyahu’s favorite phrase, as the United States shifts its focus to global competition for supremacy with Asia and China.
Israel will “deal with” the “Iranian threat” while Arab states struggle with unresolved domestic tensions and competition. The mobilization of Arab states after Israel’s attack on Doha has been largely ignored.
These voices also point to the fact that Israel continues to completely ignore the “ceasefire” established in “phase one” of the Trump plan, and that it is being done with the full support of the United States. In fact, President Trump said that Israel was in “100 percent” compliance with the ceasefire and had no problem with Israel’s actions in Gaza. These include bombing, destroying buildings and infrastructure, blocking life-saving aid in adverse weather conditions, and many other measures that ensure and escalate the ongoing Israeli genocide.
This is certainly extremely difficult to reconcile with the idea that Israel has delayed a second step and exhausted all internationally mediated solutions to establishing a Palestinian state. After all, we hear repeatedly from Israeli media about efforts to ethnically cleanse Palestinian communities one by one, such as the “settlement of Gaza,” the “relocation” of 1.5 million Palestinians to Somaliland, and the dismantling of the Oslo Accords.
Countries such as the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom purchase Israeli weapons at huge sums of money and continue to equip Israel with their own weapons. How can we reach the conclusion that Israel’s genocide is reaching its final stage?
Simply put, it’s not. Israel continues to kill, destroy, subvert, and expand its efforts to destabilize any semblance of regional order. For example, Israel recognized Somaliland’s statehood not only to secure a “dumping ground” for ethnically cleansed Palestinians, but also to pit Saudi Arabia against the United Arab Emirates, which has conflicting interests in Somalia, and thereby ensure that the Palestinian issue remains unresolved and everyone remains frozen in fear of Israeli weapons.
The longer answer recognizes the impact of this genocide on Israel itself. In other words, genocide consumes genocide.
It does not suggest that justice is guaranteed by cosmic forces. Far from it. Justice, as well as the dignity and protection of Palestinian life, should be pursued at the most grounded and pragmatic level.
But the genocide shaped Israel’s image on a daily and immediate level. Violence is rising as quickly as the prices of basic goods, democracy is in retreat, and there is no end in sight to “forever wars.” This is not an abstract “strategic” issue.
For nearly 80 years, Israel has been actively trying to erase Palestinian identity, without success. Israel’s internal contradictions have come to the fore with paralyzing force over the past two years.
Israel will not “die” or “retreat,” but the gap between Israel’s perception of the world and the world’s perception of Israel is wider than ever.
Mr. Trump and his view of America do not value “losers.” There is no immediate “victory” for Israel anymore. It can and does kill and burn, procrastinate and obfuscate.
Even Trump recognizes that this power, once applied immediately, has no lasting effect. Israel has no choice. No more losses.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.
