Is Gulf money eclipsing the Israel lobby’s influence?
In their Daily Kickoff newsletter, the pro-Israel Jewish Insider (JI) comes very close to asking this question directly.
They’re clearly chagrined that Trump is in the Middle East this week, cutting business deals with some of the richest countries and the world and ignoring Israel amid important developments in the region.
JI’s Gabby Deutch laments the fact that Trump isn’t in Israel to celebrate the release of American hostage Edan Alexander, whose release was negotiated by the administration without Netanyahu’s assistance.
“Trump will not be visiting Israel at all, dealing another blow to America’s closest ally in the region at a time when ties appear to be straining between Jerusalem and Washington,” writes Deutch.
“Instead, the president will be meeting with the leader of a country that serves as a chief sponsor of Alexander’s captors — just days after Trump accepted the gift of a $400 million luxury jet from the Qatari royal family to use as Air Force One, which quickly sparked concern from ethics experts, congressional Democrats and critics of the Gulf state, which has close ties to Hamas leaders,” she adds.
Deutch says the trip is “generating a quiet panic of sorts among members of the pro-Israel and Jewish communal establishment.”
The mainstream media typically overstates rifts within the “special relationship,” and pro-Israel forces often act as if the sky is falling in order to drum up support among the base.
However, it’s not just supporters of Israel who see something here. Here’s Middle East analyst Mouin Rabbani from a recent social media post:
Israel and its lobby, which went all-in for Trump during the 2024 US presidential election campaign, are experiencing a severe case of buyer’s remorse. They seem to have genuinely believed that during Trump’s first few months in office Washington would not only continue to provide unlimited support for Israel’s genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip and further increase weapons deliveries to Israel, but would also endorse Israeli annexation of the West Bank, obliterate the Houthis in Yemen on Israel’s behalf, engineer Saudi-Israeli normalization in a manner that renders the Palestinians irrelevant, and take the lead in a joint US-Israeli war against Iran.
Trump’s harebrained “Gaza Riviera” proposal this past February, calling for the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland, convinced them the second Trump administration will exceed even their wildest expectations, and by comparison make Trump I look like a Squad policy platform.
Rather than celebrating the fulfilment of the above wish list, not much of it has come to pass. More to the point, Israel and its lobby are currently in the midst of a total meltdown. How did the genocidal apartheid regime get it so very wrong?
While Israel correctly understood that Trump has few if any principles, and that he lacks the fanatic devotion to anything and everything Israel of his predecessor Joe Biden, it nevertheless believed Trump would be the better option, and even more so compared to Kamala Harris. Leaders motivated primarily by their own self-interest and possessing no discernible agenda, after all, can easily be persuaded that a certain course of action is in their best personal and political interest. The approach worked spectacularly well during Trump’s first term.
Israel’s problem is that it is today encountering a different Middle East, a different United States, a different Republican Party, and a different Trump than those which it so easily bent to its will during Trump’s previous stint in the White House.
None of this is to suggest that the United States is on the verge of severing its military alliance with Israel. After a brief ceasefire, Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza has resumed with full U.S. support. Trump has said that humanitarian aid will get into Gaza, but we have yet to see any policy moves connected to this declaration.
“Because the Palestinians are not viewed as a significant issue in Washington, the Trump administration may well compensate Israel for its growing independence in Middle East policy by letting it have its merry way in the Gaza Strip and West Bank,” notes Rabbani.
However, these developments are not occurring in a vacuum. Last week, House Republicans pulled an anti-BDS bill from the congressional schedule after it faced resistance from fellow right-wing lawmakers. Last month, a Pew poll found that 53% of Americans now hold an unfavorable view of Israel, up from 42% in 2022. We have Israel cut out of the Yemen deal and on the sidelines amid negotiations with Iran.
Trump is undoubtedly furthering this decline in support for Israel by sticking the Constitution through a paper shredder in order to detain students who dare oppose a genocide in Gaza.
There are two recent comments that are worth flagging for this discussion.
Here’s what Trump Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff told the families of Israeli captives on the eve of Edan Alexander’s release: “We want to bring the hostages home, but Israel is not willing to end the war. Israel is prolonging it – despite the fact that we don’t see where else we can go and that an agreement must be reached.”
And here’s Benjamin Netanyahu addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee during a recent meeting: “We receive close to $4 billion for arms. I think we will have to wean ourselves off of American security aid, just as we weaned ourselves off of American economic aid.”
Again, Israel supporters probably don’t have much to worry about, but it’s hard to believe that will always be true.
Censorship in Central Park
Noname’s upcoming concert in Central Park has been canceled.
Live Nation, which organized the SummerStage concert series in which the Chicago rapper was scheduled to perform, has not provided a reason for the cancellation.
However, it’s safe to assume that Noname’s set was nixed over her support for Gaza. Less than a week ago, the singer Kehlani had her Central Park concert canceled after the Eric Adams administration pressured the City Parks Foundation.
Kehlani is also a vocal supporter of Palestine, and last month, Cornell University dropped her from its annual Slope Day concert over her political views.
University president Michael I. Kotlikoff explained the decision in an email.
“In the days since Kehlani was announced, I have heard grave concerns from our community that many are angry, hurt, and confused that Slope Day would feature a performer who has espoused antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments in performances, videos, and on social media,” he wrote. “While any artist has the right in our country to express hateful views, Slope Day is about uniting our community, not dividing it.”
You’ll be shocked to learn that Kehlani has not actually espoused antisemitic sentiments. Kotlikoff is presumably referring to the 2024 music video for her song “Next 2 U,” which features kaffiyehs, Palestinian flags, and the phrase “Long Live the Intifada.”
In a letter to City Parks Foundation executive director Heather Lubov, First Deputy Mayor Randy M. Mastro said the Adams administration had “security concerns” about the Cornell situation. He threatened to pull the group’s license if the NYPD determined the concert would create safety issues.
“We strongly and emphatically believe in artistic _expression_ of all kinds,” said the foundation in a statement after nixing the performance. “However, the safety and security of our guests and artists is of the utmost importance and in light of these concerns, the concert has been cancelled.”
It’s been a banner week for Eric Adams.
On Tuesday, he told reporters that he met a group called Gays for Hamas in NYC. “Some of this stuff has to start making sense, folks,” he said.
When pressed on the curious statement, he replied, “There are a lot of things that I’ve seen. I saw people with signs in many protests saying Gays for Hamas. Just go ahead, go to the next question.”
On the same day, Adams announced that he was establishing a new office to combat antisemitism.
A number of pro-Israel groups celebrated the move.
“Zioness has long been sounding the alarm on the unprecedented rise in antisemitism, especially anti-Zionism, across New York City,” said Zioness CEO Amanda Berman. “This dangerous and destabilizing force endangers Jews, drives wedges between communities, and erodes trust in our political, academic and cultural institutions, and must be fought consistently and with moral clarity.”
What could possibly go wrong?