The return of US President Donald Trump has been hailed by parts of the Israeli public who see his second term as a return of uncritical support of Israel.
Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, supported Israel in its war on Gaza, as well as its invasion of Lebanon, but his administration’s occasional misgivings about Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which is now thought to have killed close to 62,000 people, made parts of the Israeli public unhappy.
Trump’s involvement in a ceasefire that led to the release of some Israeli captives from Gaza and his enthusiastic suggestions of ethnically cleansing Gaza have raised Israeli hopes that his second term will be as pro-Israeli as his first.
Here’s how he has helped prop Israel up.
Diplomacy
Trump’s diplomatic moves and appointments reflect his unwavering support for Israel.
He wants the US ambassador to Israel to be Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who opposes the two-state solution that would give Palestine a state and has even questioned whether “such a thing as a Palestinian exists”.
Trump’s previous ambassador to Israel was the hardline, pro-settlement, David Friedman.
Trump also nominated Elise Stefanik as US ambassador to the United Nations. Stefanik says Israel has a “biblical right” to the West Bank.
In 2017, Trump said all of Jerusalem was the capital of Israel, despite Palestinian plans to declare occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.
He also moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Under Trump, the US cut all funding for the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, in 2018.
One of the principles UNRWA was founded on was the Palestinian right to return to their homes they were ethnically cleansed from by Israel as it occupied Palestinian lands.
In November 2019, citing anti-Israel bias, the US was the only country to vote with Israel against all eight of the UN 4th committee resolutions aimed at supporting Palestinian rights, condemning Israeli settlements, upholding refugee protections, ensuring the supply of humanitarian aid, and reinforcing existing international law
In 2020, Trump pushed for the Abraham Accords, normalising relations between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. This incentivised economic ties and security cooperation with Israel in return for US aid, or diplomatic support.
Support of Israeli territorial expansion
Israel’s illegal settlements on Palestinian land and other moves to expand its territory were also staunchly supported by Trump.
In May 2019, Trump reversed decades of US policy and said the occupied Golan Heights were Israeli territory.
Then, in November 2019, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo overruled his department’s 1978 legal opinion that settlements were illegal, saying the “establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not, per se, inconsistent with international law”. International law is clear on the illegality.
The following year, Pompeo said the decision on whether to annex the Palestinian territory of the West Bank was an Israeli one.
The Trump administration was then silent on construction to expand the illegal settlement at Givat Hamatos near Jerusalem, which cut off parts of the city claimed by Palestinians.
The US was also silent when construction of new settlements at the flashpoint city of Hebron began in December 2019, and planners cited changed US policy as the reason to proceed.
In 2020, Trump presented the “Peace to Prosperity Plan”, ostensibly a peace plan.
Trump’s plan placed Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, dismissing Palestinian claims to occupied East Jerusalem.
It also envisioned Israel annexing large portions of the West Bank, legitimising many of the Israeli settlements deemed illegal under international law.
What little of the Palestinian state that was allowed within the “plan” was fragmented, with limited sovereignty and subject to Israeli security control.
The proposals also required Palestinians to meet stringent conditions before statehood was conferred upon them, including disarming Hamas, recognising Israel as a Jewish state and renouncing resistance to Israeli occupation in return for economic investment but no sovereignty.
The plan was overwhelmingly rejected by Palestinians.
Attacking international courts
In 2019, the ICC announced that there was a reasonable basis to investigate potential war crimes by Israel in the occupied West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem, and Gaza.
The Trump administration strongly opposed this, defending Israel and taking steps to undermine the court.
The following year, in the face of strident international opposition, it imposed sanctions on ICC officials, including Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, restricting their visas and freezing their assets.
Confrontations with Israel’s regional rivals
During its first four years, the Trump administration was particularly focused on confronting many of Israel’s regional rivals.
Early in its existence, the Trump administration pushed through increased sanctions on the Lebanese group Hezbollah, targeting its global financial network, and threatening sanctions and account closures against anyone who finances the group.
Hezbollah has confronted Israel on numerous occasions.
In 2018, following campaigning by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump withdrew from the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA), reimposing strict economic sanctions on Iran in a bid to economically cripple Israel’s regional nemesis.
In April 2019, the US designated Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a “terror group”, hoping to isolate it internationally and increase the costs on Iran “for its support of terrorist activity”.
The following year, the US went a step further, assassinating IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani, weakening Iran’s regional influence and ability to hold military positions in other countries in the region, such as Iraq and Syria, from where Israel felt itself under threat.
