After the Israeli attack against Hamas in Qatar, the American president is looking for a balance to safeguard his Middle Eastern policy
The Israeli attack against Hamas in the Qatar territory is creating fibrillations in the relationship between Washington and Jerusalem.
“This morning, the Trump administration was informed by the United States army that Israel was attacking Hamas which, unfortunately, was in an area of Doha, the capital of Qatar. This was a decision taken by Prime Minister Netanyahu, not by me. Unilaterally bomb the interior of Qatar, a sovereign and close ally nation of the United States, which is working hard and correlated We do not promote the objectives of Israel or America to mediate peace, “said Donald Trump on Truth.
“However, eliminating Hamas, who made profit from the misery of those who live in Gaza, is a commendable goal. I immediately commissioned the special correspondent Steve Witkoff to inform the qatari of the imminent attack, which he did, unfortunately too late to stop him. I consider the Qatar a strong ally and friend of the United States and I am very sorry for the place of the attack. War ends now! I also spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu after the attack. territory. I have commissioned the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, to finalize the cooperation agreement on defense with Qatar “.
For its part, the CNN confirmed that various councilors of Trump himself would be “angry” for the Israeli attack. It is not about the rest of the first time that the American president is surprised and irritated by some military actions of the Jewish state. In July, he had for example protested with Netanyahu after the Israeli forces had hit the church of the Holy Family in Gaza: an episode that, according to Jerusalem, would have happened by mistake. Returning to the attack in Qatar, Trump’s declaration shows the attempt to find a balance. Despite having distanced himself from the military action on Doha, the tenant of the White House reiterated the need for the hostages to be freed, also calling the goal of eliminating Hamas “commendable”. At the same time, as we have seen, the American president defended the sovereignty of Qatar, also announcing the finalization of the defense agreement with Doha.
The attempt to find a balance arises from the need to avoid a derailment of the current American politics in the Middle East. On the one hand, Trump must keep relations with Israel in view of a possible relaunch of the Abraham agreements and a possible reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. On the other hand, the American president cannot afford to break the relationships with Qatar: a country he personally visited last May, signing an agreement that, according to the White House, should generate “an economic exchange worth at least 1.2 trillions of dollars”. More generally, the American president needs to preserve the links with the Arab world, following a political-diplomatic strategy based on an equal relationship and far from the old paternalism in neocon sauce. In fact, Trump wants to recover influence on the Middle East, arguing China’s competition on site.
