JERUSALEM: Zionist officials have put a brave face on US 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 the entity 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 US-Zionist hostage Edan Alexander, after talks between Washington and Hamas that did not include the entity.

Trump, who is visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, also caused consternation in the Zionist entity last week by abruptly announcing the US would stop bombing Houthis in Yemen, days after a Houthi missile hit near the entity’s main airport. “The message to the region was clear: (the Zionist entity) is no longer a top US priority,” wrote Itamar Eichner, diplomatic correspondent for news outlets ynet, echoing media commentators across the political spectrum. One Zionist official said Trump’s announcement on the Houthis was “kind of an embarrassment” and that the president acts “for good and for bad”.

The Zionist entity has been talking to the US 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 the entity and sometimes it did not, the official said.

The decision on the Houthis, which was not discussed with the Zionist entity beforehand, compounded the entity’s unease at US talks with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program, which could blunt any Zionist threat of military action against Iran. The entity faced further alarm after Reuters reported that the US was no longer demanding Saudi Arabia normalize ties with the Zionist entity as a condition for progress on civil nuclear cooperation talks.

“We coordinate. It doesn’t mean you must fully agree 100 per cent on every issue,” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Sunday. “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 group that bypassed the Zionist entity and focused on releasing Alexander. Last week, US ambassador Mike Huckabee denied Trump was distancing himself from the Zionist entity. 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.

‘No leadership’

Netanyahu and his government faced criticism on Monday even as the entity 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 US and Zionist entity 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 signaled they would not stop trying to hit the Zionist entity by firing another missile a few days later. The Zionist entity has relied on US military and diplomatic support since its creation as an independent state in 1948. Any weakening of US interest, as the entity faces international pressure over the Gaza war, would be a severe blow.

The decision to drop the demand for a normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and the Zionist entity, to get past Riyadh’s insistence that the entity agrees to move towards a settlement with the Palestinians, underlined how damaging the issue has been for the Zionist entity internationally.

Adding Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which both normalized relations with the Zionist entity 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 Zionist hardliners after stopping exports of some heavy munitions used in Gaza and imposing sanctions on violent Zionist West Bank settlers.

By contrast Trump, in his first term, defied world opinion by moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, which the Zionist entity regards as its capital, and recognized the entity’s annexation of the Golan Heights, which it seized in the 1967 war. Zionist officials have said previously that they were aware there were risks for the entity in a president as unpredictable as Trump and one who has shown no compunction in turning on historic US allies. “But we don’t have a choice,” said one. — Reuters