The entire second Trump administration has proven, thus far, to be an advertisement for yoga. President Donald Trump throws out a bombshell idea—annexing Canada, invading Panama, emptying Gaza, tariffs on imported air, firing a billion federal workers, expelling American citizens—and everyone gets hives, especially the stock market.
Then you find out that a lot of countries are open to trade talks; that the Abraham Accords countries have some ideas for Gaza; the border is closed, safe and secure; former President Bill Clinton fired far more federal workers than Trump is suggesting; and former President Barack Obama expelled more illegal immigrants than either Trump or Clinton.
The answer is to breathe.
With that in mind, consider the president’s current trip to the Gulf States.
The good news:
- No one can be anything other than happy, relieved and grateful for the return of Edan Alexander to his family.
- There were Israeli reporters in the room in Riyadh.
- Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) looked more relieved than anything else.
- Trump gave proper credit to the Abraham Accords for radically improving the region in economic, social and security terms.
- The president’s overall plan for regional security is a good one. It was discussed with MBS, who shares many of America’s and Israel’s concerns with the enemies of stability and prosperity, primarily Iran.
- Trump spelled out steps he would like to see Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa take, including joining the Abraham Accords, removing Palestinian terrorists and all foreign militias, assuming control of ISIS detention centers, and working to prevent the return of ISIS to Syria.
The bad news:
- Hostages remain in Gaza.
- The acceptance of the Abraham Accords by Saudi Arabia was left dangling. As Trump said, “You’ll do it in your own time, and that’s what I want and that’s what you want, and that’s the way it’s going to be.”
- Regional security was discussed with al-Sharaa, whose history is ISIS-adjacent and who is presently attacking minorities in the country he overran.
- U.S. sanctions on Syria were lifted before al-Sharaa took any action to address Trump’s concerns.
Will the positive notes win? It is far from clear.
It is worth revisiting Trump’s 2020 “Vision for Peace” in the Middle East, which he announced at the White House during his first term in office with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in attendance. The audience included three Arab ambassadors from countries that had no relations with Israel.
The president was explicit in his view of the region and the role of the Arab states in the decades-long war against Israel. “It is time for the Muslim world to fix the mistake it made in 1948, when it chose to attack instead of to recognize the new state of Israel,” he said at the time. “The Palestinians are the primary pawn in this adventurism, and it is time for this sad chapter in history to end.”
Of Jerusalem, Trump said, “In truth, Jerusalem is liberated. Jerusalem is a safe, open and democratic city.”
He laid conditions on the Palestinians to “meet the challenges of peaceful coexistence.” The Palestinians failed in those fundamental requirements for civilized behavior. They were written off by the administration.
In 2020, Trump was open in his support of Israel’s security. “There will be no incremental risks to the State of Israel. Peace,” he said, “requires compromise, but we will never ask Israel to compromise its security.”
It took nine months for the “Vision for Peace” to morph into the Abraham Accords.
It is too early to decide whether the president’s foray into the region this time around will bear fruit, but the trip has already been subjected to the excesses and warping and fakery by the anti-Trump media, democratic members of Congress and the general American antisemitic and anti-Israel left. Friends of Israel are not immune. There are headlines (happy ones and terrified ones) about how Israel has been abandoned by the administration.
Stop and breathe.
True, Israel is not happy with everything the administration is doing and proposing. It can’t be. But it is also true that Israel has been given broad latitude to prosecute the war in Gaza as it believes is proper, not as the United States deems appropriate. And with U.S. backing assured, U.S.-Israel security cooperation in CENTCOM appears to be excellent. Israel’s Minister for Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, appears to have met with Trump and the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio before the president left on his Mideast trip.
True, al-Sharaa should have his intentions tested before the United States goes all out for him. But the sanctions against Syria were on the Assad regime, and it is understood that Israel has engaged in talks with al-Sharaa as it seeks to protect the Druze in Syria. The question remains: Was the situation better when Iran controlled Syria than it is with Sunni control in coordination with Saudi Arabia, even if that includes Qatar and Turkey?
Good news. Bad news. It will reveal itself.
In the meantime, breathe.
