Trump doesn't 'love Israel.' Trump loves himself

National Post, 18 October 2025

Trump is on his own side, and that of his partners in the Gulf. They wanted the war to end on their terms. Trump saw to it

The hostages were freed. Families were reunited. Israelis were exultant, understandably so. Exhausted IDF reservists ceased fire, withdrew, and may soon return home. The increasingly pointless pulverization of Gaza paused, permitting Palestinians to return to whatever is left of their homes.

Hamas then seized the territory vacated by the IDF, carrying out summary public executions to reinaugurate its reign of fear and terror.

In the end, the peace deal was exactly like previous arrangements stretching back more than four decades. Israel released prisoners and detainees for the living hostages. This time, the ratio was a hundred to one, which is actually low by historical standards. The IDF ceased fire and withdrew from some territory, into which its enemies reconstituted themselves.

This was lamented as “mowing the grass” in Israeli security circles, meaning that from time to time, the growth of terror had to be dealt with, but after the mowing, it would grow back. This time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — with widespread Israeli support at the outset — vowed that the Hamas green grass would not be allowed to grow back. This time, it would be scorched earth — and under the earth. He persisted until Trump made him get on his riding mower and cede half of Gaza to Hamas, which is already fertilizing the ground with fresh blood.

Netanyahu could have had a hostages for prisoners, ceasefire and partial withdrawal deal, six months, perhaps even a year ago. He didn’t need President Donald Trump to get that. That deal, contrariwise, needed Trump to force Netanyahu to accept it. Hence, the week began with the crowds in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square offering fevered laudations for Trump, while booing Netanyahu.

The deal Trump forced upon Netanyahu is actually rather worse for Israel than the prime minister could have got on his own. The new security and stabilization force in Gaza will be multilateral. If there are, for example, Turkish and Egyptian and Emirati troops in Gaza, how much disarming and de-radicalization will actually get done? Arab money from the Gulf is set to pour into Gaza, including from Hamas’ principal benefactors. How carefully will that be managed to prevent it from funding terror?

Hamas was given a way out of a cul-de-sac of its own making. The hostages had become the enduring cause for Netanyahu’s move toward total military occupation of Gaza. Hamas now has breathing room to recoup, friendly powers (Turkey, Qatar) with enhanced influence to restrain what Israel does in Gaza, and Netanyahu forced to concede at least notional openness to a future Palestinian state, stalwart opposition to which has animated his thirty-year-plus career.

Netanyahu, and Israel advocates the world over, bitterly complained that the recognition of a Palestinian state in September by the United Kingdom, France, Canada and Australia would make peace more difficult. In October, they all gathered, summoned by Trump himself, to the peace summit in which that position was the norm in the room, even (in weaker form) from the Americans.

So why did Trump force upon Netanyahu a worse deal than Israel could have had on its own?

There was a telling moment at the Sharm El-Sheikh summit, when Trump greeted Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the vice president of the United Arab Emirates. Instead of the traditional cultural greeting of “peace be upon you,” he offered warm words from his heart: “A lot of cash, unlimited cash!”

The deal to silence the (IDF) guns in Gaza got the hostages back on terms moderately favourable to Hamas, and massively favourable to the Gulf Arabs — with Turkey coming along for the ride. That may be good for Israel. Far, far better the Gulf Arabs than Iran and its allies — but Trump’s “new Middle East” is going to be driven by the interests of Doha and Abu Dhabi and Riyadh more than Jerusalem.

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