Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s supporters on the Israeli right may be celebrating after President Donald Trump unveiled his “Mar-a-Gaza” vision following the two leaders White House meeting. But Haaretz columnist Alon Pinkas, analyzing the meeting behind the optics, believes Netanyahu has little to celebrate.
Speaking on the Haaretz Podcast following the meeting, Pinkas told host Allison Kaplan Sommer that the firestorm over Trump’s desire to “own” and “take control” of Gaza and relocate its 2 million residents, overshadowed the fact that Netanyahu clearly failed in his attempt to convince the U.S. president to back out of the cease-fire and hostage release deal with Hamas.
“There was nothing he said that affects the continuity of the cease-fire and stage two of the hostage deal,” said Pinkas, noting that “even if you take Trump at his word and and you think of [the Gaza takeover] as some kind of a viable or feasible plan, the cease-fire has to continue for it to happen.”
The chaos and distraction Trump managed to sow with his Gaza statements can’t hide the fact that Netanyahu came to Washington “with no leverage” and facing a U.S. president “at the height of his power” and ultimately, did not come away accomplishing anything he might have wanted to achieve.
“When you look at the reality sitcom that took place in the White House on Tuesday, was there any mention of Saudi normalization that you recalled? There wasn’t,” said Pinkas, “Was there any allusion to an attack on Iran? There wasn’t. Was there any reference to Trump understanding that the Israelis need to completely annihilate Hamas after 16 months of not doing so? There wasn’t.”