Donald Trump has made one of the greatest comebacks in political history by winning the 60th US presidential elections with 312 electoral votes. The president-elect defeated his rival Kamala Harris and he will assume office on 20th January 2025. Trump’s victory is already making wave on the global stage, particularly in Middle East. Following his win, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was one of the first world leaders to write a congratulatory message on X (formerly Twitter), calling Trump’s victory as “history’s greatest comeback.” He also mentioned the re commitment of the great alliance between USA and Israel. Similarly, the President of Israel Issac Herzog called Donald Trump, “a true and dear friend of Israel and a champion of peace and cooperation in our region.” Amidst the on-going tensions in the Middle East in which Israel is a major party these tweets, and Trump’s pro-Israel stance signals towards heightened tensions in Gaza genocide during his presidency. Soon after the 7th October, 2023, attack Trump gave a statement saying that he would defend our friend and ally in the State of Israel like nobody has ever. He also accused pro-Palestinian protestors of being anti-Semitic and also vowed to deport all the pro-Gaza student protestor. Therefore, his pro-Israeli stance shows that the genocide in Gaza will escalate.
During his first Presidential tenure, he accepted Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and ordered to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the disputed Holy city. He also accepted Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights in Syria. Similarly, during his first presidential debate with Joe Biden, he called the US president a “very bad Palestinian” who does not want to help Israel “finish the job” against Hamas. The president-elect also ignored the notion of ceasefire during his presidential debate with Kamala Harris, he also claimed that his rival would allow Israel to be destroyed if elected. Likewise, in his phone conversation with the Israeli Prime Minister, he reaffirmed his support for Israel by saying “do what you have to do.” These statements from Trump are a clear evidence of his unconditional support to Israel.
In addition to this, the presidential campaign of Donald Trump got 100 million dollars from Miriam Adelson, the eighth richest woman of the world and a staunch supporter of Israel. This huge donation from Miriam shows the influence of pro-Israelis on Trump’s campaign. The reflection of this donation and Trump’s previous statements can be seen through his nominations for cabinet members. All the members he has nominated so far for cabinet has association with AIPAC, a Zionist lobby which controls most of the US politicians no matter from which party they belong. It funded advertisements and propaganda’s against pro-Palestinian politicians like Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush and Thomas Massie to maintain the status-quo. The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, a pro-Israeli host of Fox news and also an Army veteran, previously said that, “Zionism and Americanism are the frontline of Western Civilization.”
Some other Cabinet members like Mike Waltz, the National Security Advisor, is another pro-Israeli politician who has shown support for Israel’s hardline policies and received $235,966 from different Israeli lobbies including AIPAC. Another nomination of president-elect is Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, she called the pro-Palestinian supporters as the puppets of a radical Islamist organisation, she also received $40,000 from Israeli lobbyist. The CIA director, John Ratcliffe, praised Israel’s strikes on Iran, similarly, the Steven Witkoff, special envoy to the Middle East has a bias towards Tel Aviv as he has personal and ideological relations with Israel. Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel is a Christian Zionist, and has previously said that there is no such thing as “Palestinian” or “occupation.” The US ambassador to UN, Elise Stefanik, is also a staunch Israeli supporter, she condemned the protest of Palestinian supporters and also called Israel a “miracle.” Elise has also received 917,000 dollars in donations from AIPAC and other Israel lobbyist. Lee Zeldin, the EPA administrator, opposed the notion of ceasefire and argued that Israel has no other option than eliminating Hamas for its survival. The other nominees including the Secretary of State and Kristi Noem, also have relations with AIPAC and other Israeli lobbys.
After nominating almost half of his cabinet as pro-Israeli, Trump is trying to take the credit of recently accepted ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The ceasefire deal was done on 15th January, 2025, just five days before Trump would officially assume office. The president-elect said in an interview that, “if I didn’t do this, if we didn’t get involved, the hostages would never be out.” This statement clearly indicates that he is more interested in hostages following the traditional policy of US of supporting Israel in every situation. Similarly, he said in a recent speech that if hostages are not back home, hell will out in Middle East, so, considering these statements one can argue that his policy towards Israel will remain friendly as it was in past, but it will be aggressive towards Gaza.
Therefore, keeping in view the past and present instances, the statements from president-elect, his nominations for Cabinet members and the messages from Israeli Prime Minister and President one can argue that the US policy of supporting Israel will continue even with the new President Donald Trump and we could see escalation if hostages are not sent back according to the ceasefire deal.
The author, is an enthusiastic researcher in the field of Defense and Strategic Studies, having a strong focus on geopolitics, and regional dynamics.
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