Trump\u2019s Gulf tour cements new Sunni-led Mideast order, eclipsing Iran and sidelining Israel, sources say
\n Tel Aviv
\nNothing captured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s isolation more starkly this week than the image of US President Donald Trump shaking hands with Syria\u2019s Islamist leader Ahmed al\u2011Sharaa\u2013a man Israel has branded \u201can al\u2011Qaeda terrorist in a suit.\u201d
\n\u201cHe\u2019s got the potential. He\u2019s a real leader,\u201d Trump told reporters after talks with Sharaa on Wednesday in Riyadh\u2013a meeting brokered by his Saudi hosts, with whom the US president agreed a slew of arms, business and technology deals.
\nTrump\u2019s whirlwind four-day tour of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week was more than just a diplomatic spectacle marked by lucrative investments.
\nIt sealed the emergence of a new Sunni-led Middle East order\u2013one that eclipses Iran\u2019s shattered \u2018axis of resistance\u2019, and leaves Israel sidelined, according to three regional and two Western sources.
\nAmid growing irritation in Washington with Israel\u2019s failure to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, Trump\u2019s tour was a snub to Netanyahu, a close US ally who was the first foreign leader to visit Washington after the president returned to office in January, the sources said.
\nThe message was clear: in Trump\u2019s less ideological, more results-driven vision of Middle East diplomacy, Netanyahu could no longer count on unconditional US support for his right-wing agenda, the sources said.
\n\u201cThis administration is very frustrated with Netanyahu and that frustration is showing,\u201d said David Schenker, a former US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs under Republican former President George W Bush.
\n\u201cThey\u2019re very, very transactional, and Netanyahu isn\u2019t giving them anything right now.\u201d
\nThe sources said that the US was not about to turn its back on Israel, which remains a vital US ally whose support in Washington runs deep and is bipartisan.
\nBut the Trump administration wanted to deliver the message to Netanyahu that America has its own interests in the Middle East and it does not like him standing in its way, the sources added.
\nUS patience has been strained not just by the Israeli prime minister\u2019s refusal to countenance a Gaza ceasefire but also his objection to US talks with Iran over its nuclear program, according to sources familiar with the matter.
\nNetanyahu\u2019s office did not respond to requests for comment. It has made no public statements on Trump\u2019s regional visit.
\nA spokesperson for the White House\u2019s National Security Council emphasized Trump was a friend to Israel.
\n\u201cWe continue to work closely with our ally Israel to ensure remaining hostages in Gaza are freed, Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon, and to strengthen regional security in the Middle East,\u201d NSC spokesman James Hewitt said.
\nWhile publicly insisting US- Israeli relations remain strong, Trump administration officials have privately expressed irritation with Netanyahu\u2019s refusal to fall into line with Washington\u2019s positions on Gaza and Iran, according to sources familiar with the matter.
\nSix regional and Western sources said friction between the US and Israel was building before Trump\u2019s regional trip.
\nThe tension began when Netanyahu flew to Washington on a second visit in April seeking Trump\u2019s backing for military strikes on Iran\u2019s nuclear sites\u2013only to discover, to his shock, that Trump was opting for diplomacy.
\nAn unbending advocate for a hardline stance against Tehran, Netanyahu was caught off guard, learning just hours before his meeting that negotiations were about to start.
\nIn the following weeks, Trump\u2019s declaration of a ceasefire with the Houthis in Yemen, rapprochement with Syria\u2019s new Islamist leadership and bypassing of Israel on his Gulf visit showed how the traditionally close relations have become strained, the sources said.
\nDavid Makovsky, a fellow at the Washington Institute, where he directs a project on Arab-Israeli relations, said Washington and Tel Aviv \u201cdon\u2019t seem in sync on the big questions the way they were in the first hundred days\u201d of Trump\u2019s presidency.
\nDuring his election campaign, Trump made clear he wanted a ceasefire in Gaza and the hostages there released before he returned to the White House.
\nBut months into Trump\u2019s presidency, Netanyahu has continued to defy ceasefire calls, expanded the offensive, and offered no endgame or a post-war plan after 19 months of conflict. The death toll in Gaza has passed 52,900 in recent days, according to local health officials.
\nThe war\u2013which has sparked international outcry over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza\u2013was triggered by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that killed around 1,200 people and captured some 250 hostages.
\nAny hope that Trump could use his regional visit to cement his image as a peacemaker and announce a deal to end the bitterly divisive war were dashed.
\nInstead, Netanyahu\u2013who is charged with war crimes in Gaza by the International Criminal Court\u2013has doubled-down on his aim of crushing Hamas. Netanyahu is also on trial in Israel over corruption charges, which he denies.
\nAs Trump wrapped up his visit, Israel launched a new offensive on Friday in Gaza. Israeli strikes have killed hundreds of Palestinians in recent days.
\nTrump\u2019s other key priority\u2013expanding the Abraham Accords establishing diplomatic ties between Israel and Arab states to include Saudi Arabia\u2013has also been blocked by Netanyahu\u2019s intransigence.
\nRiyadh has made it clear it will not normalize relations with Israel until the war has ceased and there is a path to Palestinian statehood, something Netanyahu rejects.
\n\u201cHe\u2019s got no strategy, no day-after plan on Gaza,\u201d Schenker said. \u201cAnd he\u2019s standing in the way.\u201d
\nPublicly, Trump himself has dismissed any talk of a rift. In an interview with Fox News, broadcast after the regional visit, Trump denied being frustrated with Netanyahu, who he said faced \u201ca tough situation\u201d over the war in Gaza.
\nBut Trump is forging ahead without Netanyahu. With unapologetic self-interest, the American president is driving a realignment of U.S. diplomacy toward wealthy Sunni states, anchored by oil-rich Riyadh.
\nOne senior regional source said Trump\u2019s visit had crowned the influential role of Saudi Arabia as the leader of the Sunni Arab world. By contrast, years of Iranian overreach\u2013and Israel\u2019s heavy military blows to its proxies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon\u2013have left Shi\u2019ite regional power Tehran diminished.
\n\u201cIran had the leading role; now Saudi Arabia has entered with other tools: the economy, money, investment,\u201d the source said.
\nAlthough Netanyahu led the fight against Iran, the new regional order is being shaped in Riyadh, Doha and Abu Dhabi.
\nThese Gulf monarchies are eager to gain access to sophisticated weaponry to shield them from attacks by Iran and its proxies, as well as to secure advanced US chips and AI technology.
\nThey have found a willing partner in a US president whose foreign policy can sometimes blur with his family\u2019s financial interests.
\nIn Qatar, on the second leg of his tour, Trump was offered a luxuriously outfitted 747 Boeing jet, and welcomed with regal fanfare befitting a monarch. Amid a lavish ceremony, sword dances, a cavalry parade and royal banquet, Trump declared Qatar\u2013which has provided major financial support to Hamas\u2013was \u201cabsolutely trying to help\u201d with the Israeli hostage crisis.
\nTrump\u2019s statement struck a nerve in Jerusalem, where officials view Doha as a strategic threat bankrolling one of their bitterest enemies.
\nMany Israelis \u201cdon\u2019t understand just how central Qatar has become to the US \u201c, said Yoel Guzansky, a Senior Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, noting it hosts the largest US military base in the Middle East.
\nWhile its ties to Hamas make Qatar a threat to Israel, its vast natural gas wealth, financial clout and diplomatic influence have turned it into an indispensable ally to Washington, Guzanksy added.
\nIn total, the White House estimated the tour secured more than $2 trillion in investment commitments for the US economy\u2013including major orders of Boeing planes, deals to buy US defense equipment, data and technology agreements. A Reuters tally of publicly announced deals put the total value at closer to $700 billion.
\nIn Saudi Arabia, Trump agreed a record $142 billion arms deal with Riyadh, stoking Israeli fears over losing air superiority in the region if Riyadh gains access to Lockhead\u2019s F-35 jet.
\nAt the same time, in a recalibration of US -Saudi ties, Trump offered Riyadh leeway on establishing relations with Israel, telling its rulers they could do so in their own time.
\nNow, Trump is negotiating a US-led civil nuclear investment for Saudi Arabia\u2013another deal causing concern in Israel.
\nSunni states also pushed their own diplomatic agenda. Trump\u2019s surprise announcement during his tour that he would lift sanctions against Syria\u2013another major shift in US policy\u2013came at the behest of Saudi Arabia and over the objections of Israel.
\nUntil December, when Sharaa toppled Syrian autocrat Bashar al-Assad, Washington had a $10 million reward for his capture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trump\u2019s Gulf tour cements new Sunni-led Mideast order, eclipsing Iran and sidelining Israel, sources say Tel Aviv Nothing captured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s isolation more starkly this week than the image of US President Donald Trump shaking hands with Syria\u2019s Islamist leader Ahmed al\u2011Sharaa\u2013a man Israel has branded \u201can al\u2011Qaeda terrorist in a suit.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365154,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-479387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n