After lavishly celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States and losing the World Cup, Donald Trump arrived in Ankara to participate in the NATO Summit, this time hosted by his friend Erdogan. While Emmanuel Macron landed in Damascus, in Tehran, calls for revenge and cries of hatred were loudly chanted against America and Israel during the public funeral of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
In a context of instability and uncertainty about the way forward in the Middle East, it seems that Trump is playing geopolitical games casually and with a lack of seriousness regarding international conflicts. Above all, he demonstrates a detachment from the rise of Sunni and Shiite jihadist Islamists and their threats to stability and peace in the world.
Is he truly aware of the situation on the ground? Has he erased the massacre of October 7, 2023? How can he ignore the declaration of intent he himself signed with Netanyahu regarding the absolute priority of dismantling Hamas and surrendering its military arsenal? Why downplay the risks and now differentiate between heavy and light weapons? Wasn't the disarmament of Hamas the key to continuing the peace process, those famous 20 points that succeeded in freeing all the Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip?
By changing his mind overnight and abandoning the disarmament of Hamas as a condition for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, Trump is allowing terrorist organizations to raise their heads and pursue their "battle for the liberation of Jerusalem to the very end."
Worse, Trump legitimizes their presence by considering negotiating directly with them. He is satisfied with vague promises from Hamas to withdraw from administrative power, and then he exerts strong pressure on us when Tehran makes it clear that a new IDF attack on Gaza would lead to a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Faced with the immense wealth of Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, and the cash flowing into Qatar's pockets, Israel can only offer it an old and rich past, a Bible, the Ten Commandments, universal values, know-how, and a faithful alliance…
It is quite clear and we see it daily, Trump is acting exclusively for his own interests with the sole aim of making good deals and selling weapons and stealth aircraft to Turkey, fully aware of Erdogan's belligerent and anti-Semitic policies.
This is no longer surprising; Vice President Vance had frankly said publicly: "What is Israel? Eight million inhabitants, well, without Trump this small country could have disappeared."
Certainly, the IDF is present in the Gaza Strip and South Lebanon, but these territories still represent major security problems with serious consequences for American policy towards Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Iran.
How does Trump intend to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians? By allowing Erdogan and the Emir of Qatar, Al Thani, to intervene and support Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood? By supporting al-Aqsa? By approving investments in Islamic and real estate projects in East Jerusalem? By unchecked applying influential diplomacy, soft power?
Why doesn't Trump dare to say clearly that it would be impossible to create an independent Palestinian state as long as Hamas does not recognize the existence of the Jewish state? Isn't he the "boss," as he calls himself?
Contrary to all promises and faced with the continued existence of the ayatollahs' regime in Iran, Trump's United States is unfortunately abandoning its values for mercantile reasons, just as the Europeans have been doing for a long time.
No sovereign state in the world can tolerate in the long term a "coexistence" with a terrorist organization that threatens the peaceful daily lives of millions of men, women, and children. Israel cannot continue a war of attrition, yield to the blackmail of terrorist leaders, and accept unacceptable and absurd demands.
How long will this vicious cycle continue?
Currently, the strategy is based on the notion of "calm against calm" but this has failed.
The Gaza Strip is a territory doomed to misfortune and damnation. Since 1967, Israelis and Palestinians have been unable to find a suitable solution. In 1977, President Sadat rejected Menachem Begin's offer and refused to reclaim the territory administered by Egypt for over 20 years. Begin had made a grave historical error. In 1993, Rabin and Peres offered this territory to Yasser Arafat, despite all the risks. In 2005, Sharon chose to withdraw from the Gaza Strip without any agreement and brutally uprooted eight thousand Israeli families from their homes.
Today, the peace committee chaired by Trump is struggling to gain control of the situation without an IDF presence and oversight. No Arab or Muslim country dares to intervene directly in the face of a persistent humanitarian crisis and risk becoming mired in a quagmire. The mission is complex and extremely difficult to complete.
Egypt prefers to play the role of arbiter while the international community and the UN protest against Israeli raids but do not intervene to disarm the terrorists and demilitarize the Gaza Strip.
Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority remains powerless and unable to control all the troops and manage the daily affairs of its own people, neither in Ramallah nor in Gaza.
Faced with international indifference, Israel finds itself alone in the fight against jihadist terrorism. The time is right to conduct a thorough reassessment of our strategy regarding the future of Gaza.
To achieve this goal, let us put our political squabbles aside and act in the interest of the state and its best future. Together, let us overcome all challenges and strengthen our resilience to resist pressure and respond to all threats.With the upcoming Knesset elections, Netanyahu must be vigilant and cautious, avoiding reigniting conflict in order to gain ground.
His upcoming explanatory meeting with President Trump is crucial to dispel differences and misunderstandings, to focus solely on the real threats and to clearly warn him about his illusions.
