The American Conservative American divergence from Israeli policy can benefit both countries.
President Donald Trump’s snubbing of Israel during his recent trip to the Middle East is an indicator that a more balanced approach toward that nation is evolving. During his first term, Trump touted himself as the most Israel-friendly American president ever. That is saying something, given the long line of U.S. chief executives who have had very favorable policies toward the country. Trump approved of moving the capital of Israel from Tel Aviv to the international city of Jerusalem, the eastern part of which is regarded by the Palestinians as the future capital of their aspirational state. He also recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, contrary to the international view that it is an occupied area of Syria won in war. Furthermore, he brokered the Abraham Accords by which some Arab countries normalized relations with Israel. Finally, Trump implicitly accepted an acceleration of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Nevertheless, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should have realized that Trump’s foreign policy is often transactional and that his warm relationship with the American president was based on shared interests that could eventually diverge. Netanyahu’s need to continue the war in Palestine (to preserve his right-wing governing coalition and tenure as prime minister and thus postpone his legal peril) is now clashing with Trump’s ardent need for a meaningful deal somewhere in the world. That divergence of interests should now be sinking in.
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