By James Mackenzie
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli officials have put a brave face on U.S. President Donald Trump bypassing them on a Middle East trip this week, but his decision to do so is the latest to sow doubt in Israel about where it stands in Washington’s priorities.
On Sunday, a few days after announcing plans for an expanded military operation in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it had been informed by the United States of an agreement to release U.S.-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander, after talks between Washington and Hamas that did not include Israel.
Trump, who will be visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, also caused consternation in Israel last week by abruptly announcing the U.S. would stop bombing Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, days after a Houthi missile hit near Israel’s main airport.
“The message to the region was clear: Israel is no longer a top U.S. priority,” wrote Itamar Eichner, diplomatic correspondent for Israeli news outlets ynet, echoing media commentators across the political spectrum.
One Israeli official said Trump’s announcement on the Houthis was “kind of an embarrassment” and that the president acts “for good and for bad”.
Israel has been talking to the U.S. about the post-war future of Gaza and officials say relations at the official level remain strong, but some officials acknowledge being blindsided by Trump’s decision-making.
One senior official in Netanyahu’s circle, who declined to be identified by name said there was “chaos” in the Trump administration, with everything dependent on what the president decided at any given moment. Sometimes that helped Israel and sometimes it did not, the official said.
The decision on the Houthis, which was not discussed with Israel beforehand, compounded Israeli unease at U.S. talks with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme, which could blunt any Israeli threat of military action against its arch-enemy.
Israel faced further alarm after Reuters reported that the U.S. was no longer demanding Saudi Arabia normalise ties with Israel as a condition for progress on civil nuclear cooperation talks.
“We coordinate. It doesn’t mean you must fully agree 100% on every issue,” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Sunday. “The U.S. is a sovereign state. Israel is a sovereign state. But I believe we have a very, very big common ground of positions with this administration, more than in the past.”
In March, Trump’s hostage negotiator, Adam Boehler, held what Hamas described as “very helpful” meetings with the Palestinian militant group that bypassed Israel and focused on releasing Alexander.
Last week, U.S. ambassador Mike Huckabee denied Trump was distancing himself from Israel. He said the relationship was often described as ironclad and “that word is still operative.”
“The president has been consistent in his support and his partnership and I have no reason to believe that that won’t continue,” he said.
“CHAOS”
Netanyahu and his government faced criticism on Monday even as Israelis looked forward to Alexander’s release, with a growing perception in the public that the two allies had differing priorities.
“There’s just no leadership now,” said Tel Aviv pensioner Jack Gottlieb. There was “no question” the deal happened behind Netanyahu’s back or that the U.S. and Israeli agendas currently differed, he said.
“Right now, it’s every man for himself,” Gottlieb said.
Netanyahu had little choice but to accept the decision on the Houthis, who signalled they would not stop trying to hit Israel by firing another missile a few days later.
Israel has relied on U.S. military and diplomatic support since its creation as an independent state in 1948. Any weakening of U.S. interest, as Israel faces international pressure over the Gaza war, would be a severe blow.
The decision to drop the demand for a normalisation deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel, to get past Riyadh’s insistence that Israel agree to moves towards a settlement with the Palestinians, underlined how damaging the issue has been for Israel internationally.
Adding Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrein, which both normalised relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords signed during Trump’s first term, has been a major goal for Netanyahu but is now seemingly delayed indefinitely.
Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, faced bitter criticism from Israeli hardliners after stopping exports of some heavy munitions used in Gaza and imposing sanctions on violent Israeli West Bank settlers.
By contrast Trump, in his first term, defied world opinion by moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, which Israel regards as its capital, and recognised Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, which it seized in the 1967 Middle East war.
Israeli officials have said previously that they were aware there were risks for Israel in a president as unpredictable as Trump and one who has shown no compunction in turning on historic U.S. allies.
“But we don’t have a choice,” said one.
(Additional reporting by Emily Rose and Jerusalem Newsroom, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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