Before the shootings in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, it seemed something else might finally be possible in Gaza, for the first time since Hamas鈥檚 brutal incursion, followed with nearly relentless bloodletting by Israel鈥檚 military.
The hinge of potential change was U.S. President Donald Trump鈥檚 recent Mideast tour, where the normal order got overturned. He visited three Arab countries but skipped Israel. During his trip eight years ago, he spent a day in Saudi Arabia and one in Israel.
Before his arrival this time, Hamas released an Israeli-U.S. hostage. Israel had played no role. Huge arms deals with Arab states were signed and deals with Trump companies discussed. U.S. negotiator Steve Witkoff blamed Israel for lack of progress.
In the world of U.S. diplotalk, that鈥檚 tectonic. Israel said it was abandoning ceasefire talks, then suddenly said it wasn鈥檛. U.S. allies like Canada, France and the U.K. blasted Israeli actions. The mousy U.K. government halted free trade talks with Israel.
Anyone following news from the region knows the only thing that can alter Israel’s conduct is U.S. pressure. When then-president Joe Biden applied it, even lightly, it was effective, but Biden felt constrained. Trump is, as they say, transactional. He sees the world in deals. You give something to get something.
What does Trump want? Bundles of money from nonsensically rich Gulf oil states, both for himself, personally, and U.S. corporations, plus a Nobel Peace Prize, to match former president Barack Obama鈥檚. That鈥檚 contingent on an Arab peace with Israel. Saudi rulers are amenable to it, but won鈥檛 act unless Israel first accepts a minimal Palestinian state.
This isn鈥檛 out of fellow feeling. They are a virtual feudal monarchy equipped like a modern police state. But they fear their own people, who demand Palestinian recognition by Israel. Trump seems ready to order it up.
What about Israel鈥檚 own shift this week 鈥 to reoccupy and raze Gaza? We鈥檙e “destroying everything that’s left,鈥 said an Israeli minister. Transactionally speaking, it changes little. The U.S. may well view it as giving Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu some cred and manoeuvring room to reverse course when told to.
Yes, Trump could any moment lose interest in a Mideast makeover, as he鈥檚 wont, but why would he? The money is bigger and easier than anywhere else. And the Nobel Peace Prize is based on his prime motivators: envy, resentment, revenge.
Do the Washington killings change anything? Not from the Trumpian, transactional POV. But their impact will race through the U.S. Jewish world, like earlier instances, such as the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shootings. The killings have already been declared antisemitic by Trump, Netanyahu and others, though it鈥檚 unclear why they鈥檙e that rather than anti-Israel, or anti-Zionist.
This is not an arid academic debate about definitions. If it鈥檚 traditional antisemitism, it awakens echoes that are millennial, even eternal, which seem to defy any possible solution. If it鈥檚 about this Israeli government鈥檚 actual policies, there are solutions available, that have long existed but were rejected.
We also live at a point when it has become clear that 鈥渞ising antisemitism,鈥 aside from its actual manifestations, is also being deliberately weaponized and manipulated by Israel, its backers and right wing U.S. forces to bolster their own agendas, like expelling Palestinians, reversing equality gains and reviving racist discourse 鈥 as Trump did in the White House this week with South Africa鈥檚 president. The New York Times reported this strategy as 鈥淧roject Esther.鈥
The strategy isn鈥檛 risk-free. It鈥檚 like the debate between U.S. veep J.D. Vance and the popes. Vance, a recent Catholic convert, argued that 鈥淎merica First鈥 makes sense, based on a traditional Catholic doctrine called ordo amoris: that you should most love those most like you 鈥 family, nation etc. 鈥 and all others in descending order. Pope Francis replied that Christian love isn鈥檛 “concentric” in that way. Like the Good Samaritan, Christians should love all God鈥檚 creatures, near and far, known and not. His successor, Pope Leo, agreed.
It’s the kind of choice Israel and its supporters, face: “Blood libels paid in blood” (Netanyahu) vs. Love (or simply acknowledge) thy inevitable neighbour.
