TEL AVIV—A few hours before the release of Israel Defense Forces soldier Edan Alexander—who is a dual Israeli-U.S. citizen—from Hamas captivity Tuesday, hundreds of protesters demanding the release of the remaining hostages made their way from Museum Square to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv holding a large banner in English that read: “In Trump We Trust.”
Anyone who has ever held a dollar bill knows the motto “In God We Trust,” which was added to U.S. currency in 1956 at the height of McCarthyite hysteria. Congress enacted a law establishing the phrase as the official national motto in order, supposedly, to distinguish the United States from atheist communism.
Maybe someone could understand why the families of the kidnapped adapted the slogan for their demonstration: to thank Trump, who they felt had worked to return the captured U.S.-Israeli soldier following direct negotiations with Hamas, and to express distrust in another sometime dual U.S.-Israeli citizen—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But even if one can perhaps comprehend the feelings of desperate families and activists for those held captive, should we really trust in Trump? Is there anything in his history to suggest he keeps his promises when it comes to peace…or anything else?
Halakha—Jewish law—explicitly states that one should not sleep in a bed oriented east and west but should aim with the head facing north and the feet facing south. In the case of Trump and the prisoners in Gaza, there is no certainty about which side of the bed the American president will wake up tomorrow morning. Will he care now that there are no more Americans in captivity?
One thing is clear, however: Trump actively supports the massacre that Israel is carrying out against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and their dispossession from their land in the West Bank, and he has presented a plan for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza—to the delight of the racist right in Israel.
Restoring U.S. hegemony
Trump is volatile, but he has a clear strategic goal: to restore U.S. hegemony in the world—including in the Middle East. This is the purpose of his recent highly publicized visit to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf principalities.
From his perspective, all means are lawful to achieve that goal—bombing Yemen to prevent attacks on the U.S. merchant fleet and naval ships (and not necessarily to prevent missile fire on Israel); demanding exemption from paying transit fees through the Suez Canal for American-owned ships; striving for a nuclear agreement with Iran with one hand while supplying nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia (for peace purposes, of course) with the other; and signing contracts worth hundreds of billions of dollars for U.S. military industries.
Threats, promises, sanctions, and even military actions are the means at Trump’s disposal in his attempt to convince his interlocutors. But, of course, he also welcomes whatever efforts they might make to influence his decision-making—from free planes to investment deals to real estate schemes and more.
On the first day of his visit, Trump had already achieved a lot. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia signed a huge weapons deal that the White House called “the largest in history,” for a whopping $142 billion. This was part of a series of agreements signed by Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh.
An official White House statement said that the arms deal includes five areas: air force development and space capabilities, air defense, maritime security, border security and modernization of ground forces, and upgrading information and communications systems.
Agreements worth tens of billions of dollars were also signed in the fields of artificial intelligence, energy, space, computers, infrastructure, and healthcare. According to the White House, the total value of the agreements is estimated at $600 billion.
Next up was Qatar, where Trump scored a promise by that country’s government to buy a shocking 160 planes from Boeing and he nailed down authorities to spend $10 billion to upgrade the U.S. Air Force base that they already host. On Thursday, he’s on to the United Arab Emirates, where his spokespeople promise “big news.”
Israel reminded of who’s in charge
According to the U.S. press, Trump also wants to announce during his visit to the region a plan to end the war in Gaza as quickly as possible—which is causing astonishment and panic among the leading figures in Israel’s right-wing government.
Since the beginning of the week, government ministers have been heaping praise on Trump at Netanyahu’s explicit request, hoping to have some sway over whatever the U.S. president might be thinking.
Only Cabinet Minister Dodi Amsalem of the Likud Party criticized Israel’s U.S. ally in the most recent Knesset plenum, saying: “Trump often changes from one moment to the next; it’s a question of weather and mood. That’s what we have to take into account.”
According to Amsalem, “The dialogue with the president and his people is constantly taking place, secretly. There’s no need to talk about it in the media. We’re monitoring it closely, and we’re also a little worried.”
The minister added:
“A strong Israel is in American, Saudi, and Jordanian interests. Without us, I don’t know what would have happened with all these regimes. But the State of Israel ultimately needs to understand that none of its friends will come and fight in its place.”
What Amsalem needs to understand is that the imperialist interests of the U.S. always take precedence for Trump and the U.S. ruling class (especially if the U.S. president can personally make money in the process of pursuing them).
Netanyahu and his government have to remember that it is those interests which are decisive at all times, even for the protectorate state that they rule.
This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared in Zo Haderekh. As with all op-eds and news analysis articles published by People’s World, the views expressed here are those of the author.
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