US President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday that he will not allow Israel to enact sovereignty over the West Bank.
“I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank,” Trump replied firmly when questioned by a reporter.
“No, I will not allow it. It’s not going to happen.”
When asked whether he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud) about the issue, Trump responded, “Yeah, but I’m not going to allow it, whether I spoke to him or not. I did, but I’m not allowing Israel to annex the West Bank. There’s been enough. It’s time to stop now.”
Politico reported earlier in the week that Trump had told leaders of eight Arab and Muslim states allied to Washington during a high-level meeting on Tuesday that he will not allow Israel to annex the territories won from Jordan during the 1967 Six Day War, lands that constitute the cradle of Jewish civilization.
The meeting had taken place at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
In addition to Trump’s assurance that he would block Netanyahu from pursuing such a move, sources also indicated that the White House is circulating a paper outlining a broader plan for Gaza’s future – on in which the territory would be governed by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair – who served as point man for the “Middle East Quartet” and was discovered to have used this position for personal profit.
As the Quartet envoy to the region, Blair pressured Israel to open up radio frequencies so that a Kuwaiti- and Qatari-backed cellphone provider, Wataniya Mobile, could operate in the West Bank. He also advanced the development of a major gas field off the Gaza coast, operated by British Gas. It later emerged that both Wataniya Mobile and British Gas were clients of JPMorgan Chase – Blair’s most significant client at the time.
Despite the fact that he had bene serving as chairman of the JPMorgan Chase international advisory council, Blair claimed to have no knowledge of the company’s interest in either Wataiya Mobile or British Gas.
Blair’s official mandate as Quartet envoy was to advance the two-state agenda of the United States, European Union, Russia, and United Nations. The fact that Trump has tapped him to govern Gaza on his behalf is a good indication of what the president has planned for the near future.
Trump’s behavior this week should be yet another wake up call for all the right-wing Jews in Israel and the United States who constantly struggle to convince themselves that the president is an ally for advancing Jewish national aspirations. Many have even compared Trump to the Persian King Cyrus, praised in Jewish history for permitting the rebuilding of Jerusalem following the Babylonian destruction.
It’s true that in comparison to other US presidents, Trump has made several statements and gestures that appear highly sympathetic to Israel on the surface. But when push comes to shove, he treats Israel like a vassal.
Despite the pro-Israel aesthetics, the Trump administration is committed to the same two-state agenda for partitioning our country that every US administration since 1967 has attempted to force on Israel. And the fact that he continues to pursue policies, such as the Abraham Accords, that deepened Israel’s reliance on Washington, while expanding American power and influence in the region, shows that his intention isn’t to strengthen Israel but rather to keep Jerusalem dependent on the empire while increasing US dominance in West Asia through a regional balance of power.
None of this should surprise or disappoint anyone. Trump is behaving in the interest of the waning empire he leads. The problem is that so many Jews on the right have been suckered (once again) by surface-level platitudes and pro-Israel aesthetics instead of recognizing the reality of the situation. This demonstrates the extent to which Israel’s national camp and its Diaspora supporters lack the essential political education to see geopolitical realities for what they are or to influence the direction history moves in.
While it might be too much to expect Jews on the right to develop the necessary political intelligence to resist Trump in the short term, we should at the very least try to help Jews who genuinely care about the territorial integrity of our country to realize that the US-Israel relationship – even under Trump – cannot work for us.
1 Comment