{"id":320389,"date":"2025-12-23T07:20:51","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T07:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=320389"},"modified":"2025-12-24T08:22:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T08:22:54","slug":"trump-morphs-from-asset-to-liability-for-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=320389","title":{"rendered":"Trump morphs from asset to liability for Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alastair Crooke \u2013 Strategic Culture Dec 22, 2025<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Leading Israeli commentator, Anna Barsky, in\u00a0Ma\u2019ariv<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(in Hebrew) writes:\u00a0\u201cLet [Trump\u2019s] plan in Gaza \u2013 fail\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAn Israeli \u2018waiting ploy\u2019 is being formulated: not to hurl out a frontal rejection \u2026 [but rather] to bet that reality in the region will take its course\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c[Yet], the fault line [over] Trump\u2019s Gaza Plan is real \u2026 Israel demands a clear order: First, the disarmament of Hamas, i.e., first its actual removal from power, and only after that \u2013 reconstruction, international power and Israeli withdrawal\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the \u2018rub\u2019:\u00a0\u201cThe Prime Minister\u2019s Office understands that Trump, apparently, does not intend to accept the Israeli \u2018precondition\u2019 formula\u201d. \u201cAnd here is the heart of the problem \u2026 which is that Hamas does not intend to disarm or leave\u00a0the territory\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thus \u2026\u201cThe Gulf states, Egypt, and also significant parts of the American establishment, propose a different order: First, reconstruction and an international mechanism are created, then a stabilisation force and a technocratic government are introduced, and then \u2018in the process\u2019, the issue of Hamas \u2013 is [only] gradually addressed\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thus, the Israeli leadership is both disillusioned and frustrated.<\/p>\n

But this is just the tip of the spear. It goes deeper \u2013 as Alon Mizrahi\u00a0points out<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cIsraeli leaders are noting that Arab states have not agreed to normalise with Israel. The Jewish nationalists may have their man in the White House, but all he seems to care about is making Arab money. No [West Bank] annexation; no Iran [regime change]\u00a0and now an \u2018insulting\u2019 demand for a \u2018Phase 2\u2019 in Gaza, where Israel is supposed to not only tolerate a foreign military presence, but also allow reconstruction to take place\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

The problem is the increasingly strategic divergence of interests between Netanyahu and Trump: They diverge not only on Trump\u2019s Gaza plan, but on Syria (where U.S. Envoy Tom Barrack is seen to side with Turkey\u2019s stance) and on Lebanon where Washington is seen\u00a0to side with Beirut.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump needs an achievement. He needs to sign something\u201d<\/em>. Whereas Israel\u2019s goals are to maintain the freedom of military action that it currently enjoys in Syria and Lebanon, but which disturbs and disrupts U.S. efforts to orchestrate headline-catching agreements between Israel and regional powers.<\/p>\n

Trump wants a Nobel prize and judging by his recent statements, feels that Netanyahu is not \u2018providing the goods\u2019 \u2014 a feeling of disillusion that is reciprocated in the Israeli Prime Minister\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Ben Caspit\u00a0relates<\/a>\u00a0that Trump\u2019s\u00a0inconsistent decision-making remains a major source of frustration for Netanyahu:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe President can be on your side today, an associate suggests \u2026 but tomorrow he can easily flip without batting an eyelid, With Trump, every day is a new fight, depending on whom he spoke to the night before or what economic interests are at play. It\u2019s\u00a0a difficult and, above all, an endless struggle \u2026\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with the Qataris and Saudis\u201d,\u00a0<\/em>in the Israeli perspective<\/a>, one commentator suggests, \u201crepresents for Trump the mesmerizing promise of mammoth investments, which bolster his image as effective and successful; but also, even more importantly, have opened a personal gateway to\u00a0making billions in real estate deals across the Middle East\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

This Trump shift to his transactional business-first approach is in fact enshrined in the recent U.S.\u00a0National Strategic Statement (NSS<\/em>), which takes the U.S. focus away from Israeli security concerns to\u00a0\u201cpartnership, friendship, and investment<\/em>\u201d. Bin Salman\u2019s November visit to Washington vividly demonstrated this shift,\u00a0shaped as it was<\/a>\u00a0by high-level meetings,\u00a0an investment forum and a long list of agreements on expanding cooperation in these areas.<\/p>\n

World Liberty Financial<\/em>\u00a0launched in 2024 by Trump\u2019s sons Donald Jr. and Eric, alongside associates like Zach and Alex Witkoff (sons of Trump\u2019s Envoy, Steve Witkoff), underscore the Trump family\u2019s Gulf business priorities \u2013 projects that are adding billions of dollars to the family wealth.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Trump\u2019s excessive partiality for Israel \u2013 such as\u00a0acknowledging<\/a>\u00a0to Mark Levine at the White House Hanuka party that indeed, he is the first Jewish President of the U.S.:\u00a0\u201cTrue. That\u2019s true\u201d<\/em>, Trump said gratuitously rubbing salt into the \u2018America Firster\u2019 open sores. This obsequiousness has translated into strategic damage for Zionism \u2013 even among American Conservatives in\u00a0Congress<\/a>: \u201cThey hate Israel\u201d<\/em>,Trump said at the same gathering.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy now\u201d, Alon Mizrahi\u00a0argues<\/a>,\u00a0\u201cIsrael and its legions of supporters in the American political system have to be asking themselves whether they have made a critical mistake by betting \u2018all\u2019 on Trump\u201d. They stood behind Trump for strategic purpose, and not merely for his commitment to defending\u00a0Israel\u2019s image and in making \u2018anti-semitism\u2019 laws bite.<\/p>\n

Mizrahi explains:<\/p>\n

\u201cNice and potentially important, PR-related objectives are not what [the Israeli eschatological Right] is really about: The expansion of real-world power and control over people and territory is its defining, guiding vision and aspiration. Trump was chosen\u00a0to help with that: for Israel to formally own parts of Syria; to terminate Hezbollah in Lebanon; to annex and ethnically cleanse the West Bank \u2026 to break Iran, and to curtail the rise of any rival power in the Middle East, including one as accommodating of\u00a0Zionism as the Arab Gulf states\u201d,<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThey know they have limited time before the general distaste for Zionism in the world, including the U.S., gives way to new leaders, norms, and standards. So, they need to act with urgency. And this is what they\u2019re doing: not damage control, but preparation\u00a0for impact. They are not playing defence; they are playing offense\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ben Caspit\u00a0writes<\/a>\u00a0that, whereas\u00a0the second phase of Trump\u2019s Gaza plan likely will be the most pressing issue at the Netanyahu-Trump year-end summit, it is Iran that poses the greater strategic threat to Israel. And it is in this context that Israeli strategic commentator Shemuel Meir\u00a0raises<\/a>\u00a0another Israeli-perceived Trump\u00a0lapse:<\/p>\n

Were Iran\u2019s uranium enrichment sites truly \u2018obliterated\u2019 on 13 June? And what happened to the 440 kg of 60% enriched uranium that Iran still has?<\/p>\n

In the current state of wide scepticism as to the results of Trump\u2019s attack on Iran,\u00a0\u201can extraordinary nuclear story emerged in Israeli discourse this week, with more to it, than meets the eye: Netanyahu unexpectedly announced the appointment of his military secretary, Major General Roman Goffman, as the next head of the Mossad\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Goffman, with no known Intelligence experience, is more known for having written on the nuclear issue a few years ago, proposing a radical change to Israel\u2019s strategic deterrence doctrine.<\/p>\n

As head of the Mossad, Goffman reports directly and exclusively to Netanyahu. In Israel, the PM is also the Head of the Atomic Energy Commission. \u201cIt seems that more than thinking outside the box, Goffman thinks in Netanyahu\u2019s terms\u201d<\/em>,\u00a0Meir writes.<\/p>\n

Through the \u2018Nixon-Golda Understandings\u2019 initiated by Henry Kissinger fifty years ago Israel was granted a unique American exemption from the obligation to join the NPT treaty. The U.S., for its part, set conditions for this unique nuclear status: Israel would\u00a0not declare that it had nuclear weapons and would not conduct a nuclear test. This is Israel\u2019s policy of nuclear ambiguity.<\/p>\n

A possible reason for Netanyahu contemplating moving away from official \u2018ambiguity\u2019 is what Shemuel Meir calls the \u2018Trump effect\u2019:<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the one hand, there is a U.S. president who gave Israel the green light to attack the nuclear sites when his national intelligence assessed that Iran was not building nuclear weapons. Yet, on the other hand, there stands a volatile and unpredictable man\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cA President who declared that all nuclear sites had been \u2018obliterated\u2019 offers no certainty that he will give Netanyahu the option for a second round of preventive war, in contrast to Netanyahu\u2019s assertion of Israeli freedom of action whenever signs, (real\u00a0or not), of the renewal of the Iranian nuclear program are discovered\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Well, Mossad just has declared that \u201cIran is just waiting for the chance to build a nuclear bomb. They want to wipe Israel off the map. We\u2019ll find their agents. We\u2019ll deal with them. Justice will be done\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 said David Barnea, the\u00a0out-going Mossad Chief.<\/p>\n

The change of leadership at Mossad may intentionally signal that the nuclear issue in respect to Iran will be on the table at the end-of-year summit.<\/p>\n

On this vital issue, Netanyahu may also determine whether Trump, once an \u2018asset\u2019, has now become a liability.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he stays in office and remains adamant on pursuing financial gains while enjoying a pro-Zionist aura and delivering nothing substantial for Israel, I just can\u2019t see how they\u2019re going to let him continue\u201d<\/em>, Mizrahi speculates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019d much rather he just disappeared\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yet, Vice-President JD Vance now is tainted too. \u201cSystematic delegitimization of Jews\u201d came today from the U.S. Vice-President, writes\u00a0<\/em>Anna Barsky in\u00a0<\/em>Ma\u2019ariv<\/em><\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a difference between dislike for Israel and anti-Semitism\u201d \u2013 this is what the Vice-President of the U.S., J. D. Vance,\u00a0<\/em>wrote on social media<\/em><\/a>\u201d, Barsky\u00a0wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the perspective of Israel, there is nothing more disturbing than this short, almost casual text. Not because it is surprising, not because it is blatant, but because of what it symbolizes \u2014 an open adoption, on the part of senior U.S. administration officials, of an ideological narrative that seeks to separate attitudes towards Israel from attitudes towards Jews and to legitimize deep hostility towards the Jewish state, while maintaining a clean moral fa\u00e7ade\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Perhaps \u2013 paraphrasing Anna Barsky \u2013 Israel is now realising that \u2018realities in the region\u2019 have changed.<\/p>\n

Source\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The Jewish nationalists may have their man in the White House, but all he seems to care about is making Arab money. No [West Bank] annexation; no Iran [regime change] and now an \u2018insulting\u2019 demand for a \u2018Phase 2\u2019 in Gaza, where Israel is supposed to not only tolerate a foreign military presence\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-320389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Commentary","category-Israel_Anti-Semitism_Zionism_and_US-UK_allies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=320389"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":320392,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320389\/revisions\/320392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=320389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=320389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=320389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}