In his own words, former United States President Donald Trump has exposed the toxic nature of the US-Israel relationship.
In an explosive interview with Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, Trump made clear that he prohibited Israel’s government from applying sovereignty to any portion of Judea or Samaria.
“I got angry and I stopped it, because [annexation] was going too far.”
Demonstrating how dependent Israel is on the United States, Trump further stated that if not for his withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear agreement, “I think Israel would have been destroyed maybe by now.”
And when asked about former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud), Trump remarked “f*** him” for what Trump perceived as Netanyahu’s disloyalty.
Donald Trump’s candid interview with Ravid confirms that US administrations have ultimate control over Israeli governments, including policy in Judea and Samaria.
Despite what many Trump supporters in Israel and the United States believed, Netanyahu attempted to apply Israeli sovereignty to portions of Judea and Samaria, and Trump forbade it. Like many US presidents before him, Trump wanted to partition the land of Israel into two separate states.
Ravid’s interview with Trump and other former members of his administration further revealed that the Trump team crafted the much-praised Abraham Accords to prevent Netanyahu’s implementation of annexation, and to increase Washington’s power in the region. The accords normalized relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, while increasing US military and economic ties with both countries.
The Trump administration and the UAE also conditioned the accords on Israel’s abandonment of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. Moreover, a striking aspect of the accords had the UAE and Israel negotiate the agreement with Washington, rather than with one another bilaterally. By negotiating directly with the Trump team, the UAE and Israel tied their relationship with each other to Washington, and America’s continued influence in the Semitic region.
Right-wing Jews in Israel and the United States touted the Trump administration as the “friendliest” US administration that Israel can ever hope for. Many compared Trump to the Persian King Cyrus, praised in Jewish history for permitting the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple following the Babylonian destruction. And it’s true that compared to past administrations, Trump made statements and gestures that seemed to favor Israel, from recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, to appointing pro-Israel Jews and sympathetic evangelical Christians to the highest positions of power.
Yet, despite the pro-Israel aesthetics, Trump was unwilling to support even a partial recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank. He pushed a two-state agenda not much different from what previous US administrations had promoted. He continued to pursue policies, such as the Abraham Accords, that deepened Israel’s reliance on Washington, while expanding Washington’s power and influence in the region.
The facts speak for themselves. Trump’s words speak for themselves. For those that care about an independent Israel, the return of the Jewish people to the land of our ancestors, and justice and peace according to Jewish values and not Western interests, it’s time we realize that the current geo-political paradigm isn’t working for us.
