The administration of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not formally warn Washington of its impending bombing campaign on Tuesday, U.S. officials said.
Trump also expressed annoyance to Netanyahu that Israel’s strikes hit Qatar, given its close U.S. ties and central role in Gaza negotiations, the source said.
“However,” Trump wrote, “eliminating Hamas, who have profited off the misery of those living in Gaza, is a worthy goal.”
If that created goodwill within the Netanyahu administration, it did not benefit Trump’s foreign policy interests, at least in the short-term.
“But Netanyahu will continue to act in a manner that it views as in the best interests of Israel alone.”
WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump met with the leader of Qatar less than four months ago, complimenting his lavish palace and signing a comprehensive defense deal with the Gulf monarchy, a crucial ally that receives the largest U.S. A. Middle Eastern base.
That relationship has been rocked by Israel’s surprise attack on Hamas leaders in Doha on Tuesday, which infuriated Trump and drew harsh criticism from Doha and Western allies.
Targeting the Palestinian militant group’s political offices, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the strikes, which killed five people and a Qatari security agent but did not kill the Hamas leaders. Trump declared his displeasure with the Israeli operation to be “very unhappy about every aspect.”.
Despite the outcry, analysts and the United States believe that the strikes won’t alter the president’s basic stance toward Israel. A. According to officials. The bombings, if anything, highlighted the icy calculation that underlies the Trump-Netanyahu partnership.
Israel has demonstrated that it fears acting against the United States. A. interests. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government did not formally alert Washington to its upcoming bombing campaign. S. officials stated.
Trump lamented learning about the attack from the U.S. in a heated phone conversation with Netanyahu on Tuesday. S. . military rather than straight from Israel, according to a source who was briefed on the discussion.
Trump also told Netanyahu that he was annoyed that Israel’s strikes had affected Qatar because of its close ties to the U.S. S. . ties and a pivotal role in the negotiations for Gaza, the source stated.
It brought to mind Israel’s September 2024 attack on Hezbollah, in which the Israelis used booby-trapped pagers to injure thousands of the militant group’s members without alerting then-President Joe Biden.
For his part, Trump has occasionally voiced his disapproval of Netanyahu. His government, however, has backed Israel’s efforts to discredit Hamas and given it considerable authority over important matters like Iran’s nuclear scheme.
According to Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and seasoned U.S. A. peace broker.
“But (Trump’s) instinct is that he agrees with Netanyahu’s notion that Hamas cannot just be hollowed out as a military organization,” Miller continued. It must be weakened at its core. “.”.
The White House, when contacted for comment, directed Reuters to Trump’s Tuesday night statements on Truth Social, in which he claimed that the bombings did not further U.S. S. or Israel’s interests.
“But,” Trump wrote, “it is a noble objective to eradicate Hamas, which has benefited from the suffering of Gaza’s citizens. “.”.
A request for comment was not answered by the Israeli embassy in Washington.
Probably no rupture.
Some analysts refused to rule out the possibility that if Netanyahu continues to surprise Washington, Trump may become impatient. Practically speaking, that can entail removing the political cover for Israel’s continuous invasion of Gaza, which has infuriated European and Arab countries as famine conditions worsen.
An October rampage in southern Israel led by Hamas set off Israel’s military campaign in the Palestinian enclave. 7. 2023.
Dennis Ross, a former Middle East negotiator for both Democratic and Republican administrations, stated, “As his Arab friends berate him about what Israel is doing—and they are doing so now—he may say to them, give me a credible plan for the day after in Gaza and with an alternative to Hamas running it and I will tell Bibi you have done enough.”.
Trump’s aspirations for more Gulf states to join the Abraham Accords, a historic deal mediated by his first administration in which a number of Arab nations established diplomatic ties with Israel, will probably be dampened by Israel’s strike in Doha.
Michael Oren, Israel’s former ambassador to the United States, countered that Trump values strength and deals that end wars, so a break between the two men seems unlikely.
“If Netanyahu can keep appealing to both of these presidents’ sides, he will be alright. Regarding the relationship, I’m not worried,” Oren declared.
Both hot and cold.
Admins admit that the Trump-Netanyahu relationship has had its ups and downs.
“Since the campaign, it’s been hot and cold,” a senior White House official stated.
As part of his first significant international trip, Trump visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates in May, omitting Israel, which many analysts saw as a slight. In January, the Republican president took office again with the pledge to improve ties with Netanyahu, which had soured under his Democratic predecessor.
The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urged Trump to lift sanctions on the new Syrian government during that trip. Israeli officials, who doubt the intentions of former al-Qaeda commander and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, were alarmed by that action.
However, a month later, it appeared that the Trump-Netanyahu partnership was back on course. Trump shocked even some of his own political supporters by sending B-2 bombers to partially destroy Iran’s vital nuclear facilities in June, following Israel’s air war against Iran. Trump ran on a platform of resolving international disputes.
In the short term, that did not advance Trump’s foreign policy objectives, even if it did foster goodwill within the Netanyahu administration.
The U.S. S. can try to persuade and pressure Israel to make decisions,” stated Jonathan Panikoff, a former deputy U. A. national Middle East intelligence officer. Netanyahu will, however, keep acting in a way that it believes serves Israel’s interests alone. “..”.
Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay in Washington and Emily Rose in Jerusalem; editing by Don Durfee and Alistair Bell; reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Steve Holland, and Gram Slattery.
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Gram Slattery works as a White House correspondent in Washington, where he covers foreign policy, intelligence, and national security. He covered the 2024 presidential campaign as a national political correspondent in the past. He reported widely throughout Latin America and had postings in Santiago, Chile, and Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, from 2015 to 2022.
