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Trump’s Schizophrenic Middle East Policy After 100 days

US President Donald Trump attends the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, April 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis
JNS.org – For decades, political observers have judged American presidents by their first 100 days—a somewhat arbitrary marker that can still offer insights into the administration’s priorities and governing style. Trump has done more during this time than any other president. His decisions have been good, questionable or awful, depending on your partisanship. That is true of his policy toward the Middle East and Israel specifically.
If anyone ever believed that Trump holds a special regard for the US-Israel relationship, his imposition of a 17% tariff on Israeli goods, after Israel eliminated tariffs on American imports, should shatter that illusion. Israel is facing harsher tariffs than many countries that are not allies.
Trump’s advisors and cabinet are a mixed bag of pro-Israel stalwarts and isolationists. There are officials with ties to Qatar and others with far-right extremists. One of the more promising appointments has been Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has initiated a much-needed overhaul of the US State Department, eliminating USAID—a move with mixed consequences, given that it both defunded problematic NGOs and cut off support for Israeli hospitals. Another positive addition to the State Department is Mike Huckabee, a Christian Zionist appointed as US ambassador to Israel.
If you substitute the name Obama or Biden for many of Trump’s other policies, Jewish conservatives would be apoplectic. Remember the uproar when Obama visited Cairo and skipped Jerusalem? Trump is going to Saudi Arabia but not Israel. How about the decision to negotiate directly with Hamas and Iran?
Biden’s approach to Israel vacillated between Jekyll and Hyde. Trump’s policies have been similar.
He pressured Israel into ceasefires with Hamas and Hezbollah. Now, however, he’s allowing strikes in the Gaza Strip and Southern Lebanon. He warned against attacking Beirut but apparently approved the attack on a Hezbollah missile facility in a suburb.
Trump told Israel not to attack the Houthis, who are targeting it almost daily. Unlike Biden, who was petrified of the possibility of escalation, Trump ordered ongoing US military strikes on Yemen.
He blocked Israel from attacking Iran but threatened war to stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb. Trump has resumed his “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran but said he wants to have direct talks with its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. He’s moved significant military assets to the region but has not used them to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities. He says that Iran can’t have a nuclear bomb, but his negotiator talked about a modified version of Obama’s nuclear deal that Trump tore up because it would not accomplish that goal. Like Obama, he is letting Iran string him along and refuse to talk about its missile program or sponsorship of terror.
Trump ordered the release of weapons that Biden withheld and removed his predecessor’s sanctions on settlers. The administration has also denied visas to Israeli cyber experts.
After meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump then praised Turkey’s Islamist leader, who has been threatening Israel while saying he could mediate between them.
Trump warned Hamas that there would be “hell to pay” if the hostages weren’t freed, which was an empty threat the terrorists ignored. Meanwhile, his negotiator, Adam Boehler, prioritized the release of Americans and was prepared to leave the other Israeli captives behind while expecting Israel to hand over Palestinian prisoners. In response to criticism, he said, “We’re the United States; we’re not an agent of Israel.”
Trump has shown no interest in resuscitating his failed peace plan from his first term or engaging in a new initiative involving the Palestinians. He cut aid again to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and remains unwilling to fund the Palestinian Authority while its “pay-to-slay” policy continues. Trump floated the fanciful plan to take over Gaza, expel the Palestinians and create a “Riviera of the Middle East,” which received a great deal of backlash and has since stalled in terms of going forward.
After weeks of ignoring the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Trump sounded almost Bidenesque in his demand that Israel open access points for the delivery aid.
Administration leaks of Israeli military plans and shared intelligence has affected Israel’s security.
Domestically, his draconian fund cuts and other threats have forced universities to take antisemitism on campus more seriously. The Hamas-loving protesters no longer have free rein, and some are being targeted for deportation.
Trump issued an executive order mandating full and timely disclosure of foreign funding by higher education institutions, which may finally allow the public to know how much Arab money flows to universities and the purpose of those funds. The administration has also opened dozens of investigations of institutions of higher learning to determine their compliance with civil-rights laws protecting Jews and others. Simultaneously, however, he gutted the department responsible for conducting those reviews.
Perhaps more seriously, Trump has undercut Israel with his rhetoric. When he refused to commit to removing the tariff on Israel, he said: “Don’t forget, we help Israel a lot. We give Israel $4 billion a year, that’s a lot.” Stressing the point further, he added that “we give Israel billions of dollars a year. Billions. It’s one of the highest of anyone.”
This effectively lumped Israel with other countries he considers schnorrers—freeloaders he accuses of sponging off the United States, ignoring the mutual benefits of our alliance. Nevertheless, Rubio expedited the delivery of the $4 billion in military assistance.
After 100 days, Trump has an uneven record, combining some very commendable moves with some serious missteps.
The post Trump’s Schizophrenic Middle East Policy After 100 days first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.