The Trump–Netanyahu ‘Rift’ Hinges on Gaza and Iran
For the administration to achieve its goals in the Middle East, more daylight between the U.S. and Israel is necessary.
A litany of media reports indicate a growing “rift” between U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After more than 19 months of lockstep American support following Hamas’s terror attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, and through Israel’s ensuing war in Gaza, a change in Washington’s approach appears possible.
While the progress Trump has made on Yemen and Syria is good, the region is unlikely to stabilize if the administration is not willing to take bold, independent action on Iran and Gaza. If Trump cannot break with Netanyahu on these issues, Israel will continue to lead U.S. Middle East policy in a direction anathema to American interests. Trump should capitalize on his current momentum in the Middle East to strike a nuclear agreement with Tehran and end American support for the war in Gaza.
Reports of Trump “bypassing” Netanyahu and the relationship between the two becoming increasingly “strained” are now commonplace. Most notable was an article published in Israel Hayom—owned by Miriam Adelson, the hawkish pro-Israel megadonor to both of Trump’s presidential campaigns—claiming Trump is “disappointed” with the Israeli premier and “has decided to stop waiting for Israel and instead move forward with Middle East initiatives without Netanyahu.” More recently, Vice President J.D. Vance canceled a trip to Israel reportedly to make clear the administration opposed Israel’s imminent plan to flatten then occupy Gaza.
Still, any “rift” should only be judged on tangible U.S. policy change, not rhetoric. Under the Biden administration, reports of strain between the Israeli premier and the former president surfaced regularly, yet never led to meaningful policy change.
Trump, however, has already made notable policy changes. The president has continued his hands-off approach to Syria following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. Last week, he announced the removal of U.S. sanctions against the country and met with Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former al-Qaeda leader and now president of Syria, hailing the young leader’s “opportunity to do something historic in his country.” This happened despite Israel lobbying Washington to keep Syria weak and decentralized. Trump is also withdrawing some U.S. troops from the country, another move that raised Israeli objections. These are encouraging signals that Trump does not wish to repeat the mistakes of his predecessors in Syria. He should go further, withdrawing all U.S. troops from Syria—something that should have happened years ago.
Further, in Yemen, Trump ended the open-ended U.S. military campaign against the Houthis following an agreement with the group that it would stop targeting American vessels transiting the Red Sea. Notably, this agreement did not include assurances that the Houthis would cease targeting Israel, and Israel was not notified in advance of the truce. From its inception under the Biden administration, the U.S. military campaign against the Houthis was a needless exercise that neglected the root cause of the group’s actions—the war in Gaza. It cost taxpayers an estimated $7 billion to defend Europe–Asia trade of virtually no consequence to the American economy. Trump’s deal with the Houthis is a welcome end to another unnecessary U.S. military intervention in the Middle East.
These developments are significant in their own right, but when viewed within a broader regional context, they are secondary to challenges posed by Gaza and Iran.
Trump has already broken with Netanyahu and hawkish voices inside Washington through his decision to pursue a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear program. Trump blindsided Netanyahu with his announcement of nuclear negotiations with Tehran during the premier’s visit to Washington, where he unsuccessfully pressed the president into backing military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Trump stood firm and told Netanyahu he would not support such an attack. Netanyahu—who has lobbied Washington for a U.S.-led war against Iran for almost three decades—demands the full dismantlement of Tehran’s nuclear program. Israel’s preferences are being amplified by hawkish voices inside Washington, who continuously stress the need to include elements in any deal with Iran that they know are non-negotiable for Tehran. These are deliberate attempts to poison-pill negotiations.
When it comes to Iran, America’s chief interest is avoiding another ruinous war in the Middle East. This requires Trump to resist efforts by hawks in Washington and Israel to push the United States in this direction. It also means the Trump administration needs to back away from unrealistic expectations for negotiations to be successful. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff recently suggested that Washington’s “red line” for Tehran is any form of uranium enrichment—something that is a nonstarter for Iran. If this is truly Trump’s position, negotiations will likely fail and escalation is almost certain. To successfully avert war, Trump should sideline the voices pushing him to double down on failed policies in the Middle East, back away from unrealistic expectations, and strike a deal with Tehran.
The war in Gaza still has no end in sight and the United States is facilitating its continuation. Israel launched a massive new military operation in Gaza immediately following Trump’s trip to the Middle East, despite the two stated objectives of the war—the total elimination of Hamas and freeing the remaining hostages—being mutually incompatible. Netanyahu himself acknowledged privately to Knesset members that his objective is to destroy the remaining remnants of infrastructure in Gaza in hopes of driving out its inhabitants. Trump’s breakthrough with Hamas that led to the release of the last living U.S. hostage in Gaza—an effort Netanyahu tried to subvert in March—should be commended. But Trump should not adopt a passive approach to the war as Netanyahu uses U.S. weaponry and diplomatic cover to fulfill his maximalist ambitions in the occupied Palestinian territories or the broader region.
There is no strategic justification for the United States bankrolling Israel’s war in Gaza. American support is contributing to a humanitarian catastrophe while jeopardizing the lives of the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas. U.S. pressure on Israel to fully lift the siege on humanitarian aid and reach a ceasefire should continue. The Trump administration has an opportunity to get the United States out of this war and end the bloodshed if they use the leverage at their disposal. This also requires Trump to abandon his reprehensible proposal to ethnically cleanse Gaza and fantastical ideas of a U.S.-led administration for the enclave. These ideas recall the Iraq War in terms of both depravity and unworkability. Trump should break with Netanyahu on Gaza, signaling clearly—and preferably publicly—that Washington’s support for the war is over.
Evaluations of Trump’s Middle East policy will be determined by his actions on Gaza and Iran. Tackling these issues will require bold leadership, persistence, and a break from Netanyahu—something the Biden administration was unwilling and unable to even consider. Trump has a real opportunity to stop the carnage in Gaza, seal a nuclear agreement with Tehran, and begin disentangling the United States from the Middle East. He should seize it.
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