Trump still a closed book on Gaza, Israel

Muhammad Amin
Donald Trump doesn’t give a damn about the “Palestinian issue”, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to allow Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu a free rein and an endless supply of expensive American weaponry, international media are saying as they digest the US election outcomes.
Trump has always been big on vacuous euphemisms to sum up situations, leaving the public uncertain and in the dark, allowing him footroom to change his stance on any given issue as the moment, or his breakfast, may dictate.
His observations about Palestine and the Gaza genocide are a case in point.
Washing his hands
In April, during the election “primaries”, he notoriously said Israel needed to “finish what they started” and “get it finished fast”, adding it was “losing the PR war” because of the massive civilian casualties that inevitably accompany any genocide. He repeated the comments when he met Netanyahu in June at his Mar-e-Largo resort.
To Israelis, that might sound like Trump is all for continuing the genocide until every Palestinian is dead. To Palestinians, it might seem Trump has told Israel it is running out of time and money, that US support could end if the genocide and its political consequences don’t end soon.
It is not even known if Trump favours the official US position for an independent Palestinian state. He has only said he would like a solution “that both parties like”, whatever that may mean.
The Times of Israel noted with alarm last week that Trump’s April comment came with a deadline – he wants Gaza “done and dusted” by the time he settles his large bottom into the comfy chair in the Oval Office, come January 20.
Wheels coming off
That could see Israel intensifying its extermination campaign in northern Gaza and could drive the West Bank’s settlers to destroy as many olive trees, farms, water wells, villages and towns as possible in the intervening 74, long days.
But the wheels driving the genocide are already starting to break down. Netanyahu is dependent on right-wing allies in his coalition government to stay in power. It is their fanaticism that is driving the continuing genocide, while insisting orthodox Jews be exempt from military service just at a time when the Israeli wehrmacht is crying out for more reserves, with nearly 1 000 soldiers killed so far in the faltering Lebanon “invasion”.
Netanyahu is dependent on the Gaza genocide and the Lebanon invasion to stay out of jail. As long as Israel is on the offensive, the courts cannot sit to decide his corruption cases.
His decision to fire his genocide minister Yoav Gallant indicates Trump’s deadline is having an effect. Gallant had had enough of expanding wars without goals or end objectives. He’s said publicly the Gaza offensive needs to end because Hamas is finished as a cohesive fighting force and Hezbollah has been decapitated after the assassinations of its top leaders.
Depraved orders
And he says Netanyahu has lost control while his depraved orders to keep killing without end have caused such deep rifts in Israel’s military hierarchy that they present a dire threat to Israel’s security as more confrontations with Iran loom.
Trump will not be pleased that, after a four-year hiatus, his “normalization” initiative is dead in the water, and Netanyahu is clearly to blame.
The devastating genocide and the danger of a widening war destroying oil infrastructure in the Arabian Gulf have delivered his erstwhile allies into the arms of Iran. They’re now adamant no measure of normalisation can happen as long as an independent, viable Palestinian state has not been established.

‘Biden’s mess’
The Times of Israel says Thursday Netanyahu didn’t waste time trying to mend fences, claiming he was one of the fist national leaders to phone and congratulate Trump (Trump had accused him of “betrayal” after Netanyahu phoned Biden to congratulate him on his election win in 2020). This week, he called Trump’s election win “a huge victory”, adding it was “history’s greatest comeback”.
“Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America,” Netanyahu wrote.
But whether or not that translates into a neverending supply of American weaponry remains to be seen. Trump has made it clear he wants none of “Biden’s mess” on his desk, come January 20. That means he’s not interested in feeding either Israel or Ukraine with expensive arms supplies – or facing genocide charges at either the International Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court.

It’s probably worth noting that Netanyahu didn’t thank Joe “Genocide” Biden for all the weaponry and support he’d provided throughout the Gaza genocide.