Trump Visits Saudi Arabia & Freezes Out Israel for Normalisation with Arabs

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Trump Visits Saudi Arabia & Freezes Out Israel for Normalisation with Arabs

- A Radical Dispatch

1) WTF Just Happened?

It is no understatement to say that President Trump has made history on his recent visit to Saudi Arabia. In a landmark series of events, and speaking from Saudi capital Riyadh, Trump repudiated decades of Western interventionism in the Middle East, removed the 1979-imposed sanctions from the new free state of Syria, and met with its new revolutionary leader, former al-Qaeda commander al-Jawlani, who is now known as President Ahmad al-Shar’a.

Trump timed this whirlwind tour with multiple rounds of other US peace talks or ceasefires all around the region, involving the Yemeni Houthis, the Kurdish PKK in Turkey, Iran, Russia and Ukraine.

To top it all off, Trump’s administration negotiated directly with Hamas to secure the release of an American-Israeli hostage, cutting out Israel from the process just as multiple media reports suggested that unilateral American recognition for a Palestinian state will come soon. All of this apparently catching Israel’s Netanyahu off-guard, and upset.

Yes, all of that just happened. Read on for receipts.

2) Trump Repudiates Western Interventionists from Saudi Arabia Summit

To loud applause by Arab, Muslim and global anti-war populations, President Trump’s most memorable lines from his landmark speech in Saudi capital Riyadh were those that repudiated past western interventionism by neocon war hawks.

The Middle East Eye reports 13th May 2025:

“…Trump stole the show using his time to lay out a vision for a new world order that discredits an entire class of ‘interventionists’ on the left and right in his own country. ‘The so-called nation builders wrecked far more nations than they built, and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves,’ Trump said, in his most cogent defence of his ‘America First’ foreign policy…To drive home the point of his disdain for the traditional foreign policy establishment, Trump did not allude to deep discussions with his national security advisors, or even aid workers and the United Nations. Syrians, Trump told the world, had two advocates to credit. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey, a fiery populist whose roots lie in Islamist politics, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the scion of a royal family and grandson of Saudi Arabia’s founder…

…If Trump follows through on his pledge to lift all sanctions, it could deliver a blow to the US's closest ally, Israel, which has been launching strikes on Syria and advocating for its neighbour to be carved up into zones of influence among Druze and Kurds.…Trump’s speech may mark the first time a US president has celebrated Arab states asserting their independence from his own country, or at least its established policymaking class...’They told you how to do it,’ Trump said, referring to his so-called western interventionists, ‘but they had no idea how to do it themselves.’ He said that ‘Peace, prosperity, and progress ultimately came not from a radical rejection of your heritage, but rather from embracing your national traditions and embracing that same heritage that you love so dearly. You achieved a modern miracle the Arabian way’.”

Here is President Trump saying exactly that.

Click to play:

President Trump in Saudi Arabia: “And it's crucial for the wider world to note this great transformation has not come from Western interventionalists or flying people in beautiful planes giving you lectures on how to live and how to govern your own affairs. No, the gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called nation builders, neocons or liberal nonprofits like those who spent trillions and trillions of dollars failing to develop. Kabul, Baghdad, so many other cities. Instead, the birth of a modern Middle East has been brought by the people of the region themselves, the people that are right here, the people that have lived here all their lives, developing your own sovereign countries, pursuing your own unique visions and charting your own destinies your own way. It's really incredible what you've done. In the end, the so-called nation builders wrecked far more nations than they built, and the interventionalists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves. They told you how to do it, but they had no idea how to do it themselves. Peace, prosperity, and progress ultimately came not from a radical rejection of your heritage, but rather from embracing your national traditions and embracing that same heritage that you love so dearly.”

And here is President Trump labelling those who believe in Western occupation and ‘interventionism’ fools, stating that peace is the only way forward.

Click to play:

President Trump in Saudi Arabia: ”President of the United States. My preference will always be for peace and partnership whenever those outcomes can be achieved. Always. It's always going to be that way. Only a fool would think otherwise. In recent years, far too many American presidents have been afflicted with the notion that it's our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use US policy to dispense justice. They loved using our very powerful military, and now it's really the most powerful it's ever been…”

Click through to watch President Trump’s full and historic Saudi Arabia speech here.

3) Rumours of US Recognition for Palestine as US Negotiates Directly with Hamas

Prior to the summit in Saudi Arabia, multiple media reports were reporting that Trump’s administration was about to unilaterally recognise a state of Palestine, just as the US administration was directly negotiating with Hamas for the release of an American hostage.

Jerusalem Post reports 10th May 2025:

“Saudi Arabia will host a Gulf-US summit in mid-May during Trump’s Mideast visit. Speculation swirls over a major announcement on a Palestinian state, and peaceful US-Saudi nuclear cooperation….The summit, hosted by Saudi Arabia in its capital, Riyadh, was preceded by numerous predictions regarding the announcement that Trump referred to, describing it as a ‘very important announcement’ during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House on Tuesday, May 6. In addition to what Trump intends to announce, the summit's agenda and the deals and agreements expected to take place have become the talk of the town, ranging from security and military deals to technology deals and artificial intelligence deals. A Gulf diplomatic source, who declined to be named or disclose his position, told The Media Line, ‘President Donald Trump will issue a declaration regarding the State of Palestine and American recognition of it, and that there will be the establishment of a Palestinian state without the presence of Hamas.’ The source also added, ‘If an announcement of American recognition of the State of Palestine is made, it will be the most important declaration that will change the balance of power in the Middle East, and more countries will join the Abraham Accords’."

Trump did not, in the end, declare US recognition for Palestine. Rather he declared recognition for the new Syrian regime, but this direction of travel for Palestine is supported by multiple other media developments in this regard.

The Times reports 13th May 2025:

“In an early win for the president, Hamas agreed to release an American-Israeli hostage who had been held for more than 19 months in the Gaza Strip after talks mediated by Qatar.”

This sensitive negotiation was mediated by a non-government back channel via the state of Qatar.

The Times of Israel reports 12th May 2025:

“A third-party mediator operated a backchannel between the United States and Hamas that helped secure the agreement to release American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander, a source familiar with the matter and a Palestinian official revealed to The Times of Israel on Sunday. The backchannel was operated by a non-governmental individual who passed along messages between Hamas’s leadership in Qatar and US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, the sources said…The backchannel was opened last month, with the person urging Hamas to release Alexander unconditionally, telling the terror group that the move would go a long way with the Trump administration and potentially open the door to Washington coaxing Israel to agree to a deal that would bring about an end to the war in Gaza in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages — a trade Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has until now rejected, arguing that it would leave Hamas in power…Over the weekend, Hamas informed the go-between that it had agreed to release Alexander unconditionally but wanted Witkoff to know that the step should not be viewed as a one-off, the sources said. Hamas stressed to the mediator that it was ready to work with the Trump administration to secure a permanent ceasefire in Gaza with security arrangements in order to ensure a years long calm until a final settlement of the conflict is reached, the sources said…”

What is interesting is that - outside of the prisoner release - these negotiations contain the hint of how a full ceasefire and peace for Palestine can be achieved.

The Times of Israel reports 12th May 2025:

“In an earlier statement attributed to an ‘Israeli official,’ Netanyahu’s office said that it was still prepared to accept the so-called ‘Witkoff proposal’ through which Hamas agrees to release half of the hostages up front in exchange for a weekslong truce during which the sides agree to hold talks on the terms of a permanent end to the war. Such talks were supposed to have been held during the previous agreement that the sides signed in January, but Netanyahu largely refused to engage in such negotiations, amid pressure from his far-right coalition partners who threatened to collapse his government if he agreed to end the war. Accordingly, Hamas has insisted on ironclad guarantees, such as a UN Security Council resolution, in order to ensure that Israel holds those talks and agrees to end the war. In addition to releasing the hostages, Israel is demanding that Hamas dismantle its governing and military capabilities. While the group has said it is prepared to forgo control of the Strip to an independent committee of Palestinian technocrats, it has held off on the demand to permanently disarm.”

The above is essentially a roadmap for peace in Gaza.

This is effectively the Northern Ireland model, which culminated in the Good Friday agreement between the IRA and the UK state. The IRA agreed to a ceasefire after which its political wing Sinn Fein was elected to civilian power. Once Sinn Fein was in government, the IRA began to slowly disarm. If above reports are true, Hamas has expressed willingness to hand over power to Palestinian technocrats.

The fact that the state of Qatar acted as an intermediary here has precedence. It was that same state of Qatar that mediated between the Americans and the Taliban over the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, ending the neocon war there too.

Corporate media is reporting that Trump’s MAGA base is unhappy with the President’s latest anti-war initiatives. This is not true. MAGA is anti-war. Those who are not happy are certain social media commentators who seek to influence MAGA through online information operations, such as Laura Loomer.

The Times reports 12th May 2025:

“Laura Loomer, a right-wing podcaster and conspiracy theorist, drew attention to the Qatari government’s links with the Muslim Brotherhood and its connections with groups such as Hamas. Doha has acted as mediator between the US, Israel and Hamas during the war in Gaza. ‘I love President Trump,’ Loomer said in a social media post. ‘I would take a bullet for him. But, I have to call a spade a spade. We cannot accept a $400 million ‘gift’ from jihadists in suits.’ She also questioned Trump’s objectives in the Middle East. ‘It’s going to be hard for the admin to designate the Muslim Brotherhood and obliterate Iranian proxies in Hamas and Hezbollah when Qatar funds the Muslim Brotherhood, harbours Hamas, and the US just accepted a $400 million jet from Qatar,’ Loomer wrote, adding: ‘The biggest lobby in DC is the Qatar lobby. We are watching an Islamic takeover of our country in real time’.”

Ignore this. The President knows what he is doing, unlike social media influencers.

4) Trump Meets Syrian Leader Ahmad al-Shar’a & Lifts Sanctions

Prior to the Saudi summit, expectation was already rife that President Trump may recognise the new free state of Syria. Syria’s new President seemed encouraged by Trump’s minerals deal with Ukraine and sought to make similar deals in return for recognition.

The Times reports 13th May 2025:

“President Trump is planning to ease US sanctions on Syria after overtures from President Sharaa, who has offered concessions including access for American companies to exploit natural resources in a Ukrainian-style minerals deal. Sharaa has even raised the possibility of a Trump Tower in Damascus, the Syrian capital, as part of his pitch to the US president through intermediaries thought to include senior figures in Saudi Arabia and Turkey…Last week Sharaa met President Macron of France, who obtained a waiver on a UN travel ban for talks in Paris and suggested a gradual lifting of EU sanctions provided the new regime stuck to pledges of inclusivity and reform…Sharaa may offer to begin talks on joining the Abraham Accords, a set of deals to normalise relations between Arab nations and Israel already signed by the UAE and Bahrain, The Times has been told by security sources…Another US security source with close ties to the Middle East confirmed that the possibility of Syria entering the Abraham Accords had been pitched to Sharaa’s government, with the UAE acting as an intermediary.”

Again, such news of potential peace was opposed by some who are ostensibly cast as Trump’s anti-war allies. But a week prior to the Saudi summit Trump sent a warning shot to his entire administration. Trump fired his own national security adviser Mike Waltz for appearing too close to Netanyahu’s war mongering. The message is clear: no matter how senior you are, plot against the President and you’re fired.

The Times reports 13th May 2025:

“…Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence, is among those understood to remain wary — if not hostile — about the encounter and may try to prevent it. Gabbard made a unilateral visit to Syria in 2016 while a member of Congress to meet President Assad and came back urging greater dialogue to bring his regime in from the cold. Another sceptic is said to be Sebastian Gorka, Trump’s counter-terrorism adviser…Another pro-Israel aide, Mike Waltz, the former national security adviser now nominated as ambassador to the UN, is understood to have kept Trump from learning about the concessions Syria is willing to make before he was ousted last month. Waltz was reassigned after the administration learnt he had met privately in Washington with Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, in February and was urging Trump to go along with Israeli plans to bomb Iran…”

Those who understand and follow MAGA, know well that no matter how senior, the war hawks are not in-charge in Trump’s new administration. The doves are.

The Times reports 13th May 2025:

“…Others including Steve Witkoff, the president’s Middle East envoy, are thought to be more favourable of a thawing of relations with Syria, knowing how readily Trump will dispense with protocol and tradition to strike deals, and that the US president prefers making money to making war. Witkoff is among the most trusted members of the inner circle…The Trump administration is concerned that Syria could turn to China for infrastructure projects. ‘Sharaa is looking east to China, but obviously we would like him to look west,’ the source said…Some in the Trump administration, backed by Gulf states, are eager to press home the opportunity to peel Syria away from the influence of Iran, a former backer of Assad’s regime.”

In the end, President Trump ignored the naysayers among his own national security establishment. He did the opposite of what they counselled by meeting with President al-Shar’a, recognising the new Syrian regime and lifting decades old crippling sanctions.

Al-Jazeera reports 14th May 2025:

Click to play:

President Trump in Saudi Arabia: “We have leaders in this room and the great leaders you are, we are currently exploring normalising relations with Syria's new government, as you know. Beginning with my meeting with President Ahmed al-Shahra, and Secretary Rubio's meeting with the Syrian foreign minister in Turkey, after discussing the situation with Crown Prince Mohammed and President Erdogan of Turkey. I am also ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria to give them a fresh start. It gives them a chance for greatness. The sanctions were really crippling, very powerful. And I spoke to Mohammed and I spoke to a friend from Turkey who we just spoke to also by phone, now, but felt very strongly that this would give them a chance. It's not going to be easy anyway, so it gives them a good, strong chance…”

This will come as no surprise to our regular readers, as Radical Media had forecasted all of this as soon as Assad’s regime fell in Syria.

Radical Media reports 11th December 2024:

Click to play:

Maajid Nawaz for Neil Oliver show on GB News: “Yes, and Trump’s obviously very bellicose, and has a slogan ‘peace through strength,’ which is factually, actually the best way to make peace, is when you're in a position of strength. But let's keep in mind the direction of travel: there are already signs, the writing is already on the wall, that we are moving towards a grand regional settlement for peace, which I write about a lot in my Radical Dispatch via my Substack. And that is that if we look at what's happened prior to this, you can see the direction of travel, is headed towards the de-escalation of World War Three. And we were at the precipice. It's not just the negotiations between Trump and Putin over Ukraine, which are part of that de-escalation, but haven't happened yet. But the ones that have happened, we can already point to. We mentioned Afghanistan. The withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan was negotiated under Trump in his first term. The chaotic way in which it was done, if you remember, happened in the first few months of the Biden administration. And Biden is responsible for making sure that those last minute preparations didn't end up as terribly as we obviously saw on our cameras, people falling from airplanes. But the actual hard graft of the negotiations were done under Trump's term, first term. So there's an example where Trump's direction of travel has been anti-war and withdrawing troops. And to achieve that, they facilitated dialogue directly with the Taliban in Qatar. But that's not just happened in Afghanistan. We saw that that was reciprocated by Russia in Syria. Again, direction of travel being to de-escalate World War III. The Russians were backing Assad and they are backing Iran. The Russian Navy withdrew from Syria prior to Jolani, now the Prime Minister Ahmad Shahra, prior to him marching into Damascus, the Russians had already withdrawn their army (navy) without a fight. Upon seeing that, the Iranians took the signal and withdrew support from Assad as well. And that's all documented. It's not in dispute. The Russians pulling their army (navy) back is a matter of fact. So you can see there a reciprocation for what the Americans did in Afghanistan. Keep in mind, the Russians were in Afghanistan before the Americans were, in the 1980s. So that's next door to key strategic Russian interests in Central Asia, former USSR states, now the Commonwealth of Independent States. So you've got a quid pro quo where they, I think, we see both sides removing their forces and de-escalating conflict, now talking directly with each other over Ukraine. And it's for that reason that I think that bilateral talks with the US and Iran are also going to end in a similar pattern. The Russians will not back Iran for a broader World War III-style conflict. If there was a war with Iran, of course it would embroil China and Russia, we'd be back to the precipice of World War III. Because as Syria was for Putin, Iran, even more so, is a red line for the Russians and the Chinese. They will not allow the physical military occupation of Iran. We saw that they drew that line already in Syria. You know, it happened with Iraq. They drew the line in Syria. That's why we know already, Iran being a much more powerful nation than Syria, they won't allow it to happen to Iran. And that's why for them, it will be a matter of all-out conflict. We know Trump doesn't want that. And that's why there is, as I always say to you, Neil, a lot of cause for optimism here, despite what Netanyahu wants. Netanyahu doesn’t want this.”

5) Trump Demands Ukraine Agree Peace with Russia in Türkiye

Still on a roll, and while on his way to the Saudi summit, Trump went on to demand via his social media posts that Ukraine’s Zelensky meet with Putin “immediately” in Türkiye to settle terms.

The Times reports 13th May 2025:

“President Trump has demanded that Ukraine should ‘immediately’ agree to direct talks with Russia in a bid to end the war. In a post on social media, Trump said: ‘President Putin of Russia doesn’t want to have a Cease Fire Agreement with Ukraine, but rather wants to meet on Thursday, in Turkey, to negotiate a possible end to the BLOODBATH. Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY’.”

Trump even offered to attend himself if the talks happen.

The Times reports 13th May 2025:

“Trump suggested on Monday that he may also join peace talks in Turkey on Thursday between President Putin and President Zelensky, should it go ahead. ‘I’ve got so many meetings, but I was thinking about actually flying over there. There’s a possibility of it, I guess, if I think things can happen, but we’ve got to get it done,’ he said.”

Türkiye was a good venue for this meeting. As Radical Media reported during the overthrow of Assad, Türkiye had been working with President Trump during his first term to begin ‘Operation Peace Spring’ and bring and end to the war in Syria.

The Times reports 11th October 2017:

“Last night a senior US state department official said that Turkey was so far operating within parameters set by Mr Trump…The state department added that the president had instructed diplomats to seek a ceasefire and find 'areas of commonality between the two sides’. Mr Trump implied that he had discussed the limits of the Turkish operation with Mr Erdogan. ‘I say hit Turkey very hard financially and with sanctions if they don’t play by the rules!’ He later said: ‘We have one of three choices: Send in thousands of troops and win Militarily, hit Turkey very hard Financially and with Sanctions, or mediate a deal between Turkey and the Kurds!’..President Trump had ordered US troops to be pulled out of the two bases on Sunday night after a telephone conversation with Mr Erdogan; a decision interpreted by the Turks and others as a “green light” for the military operation, named Operation Peace Spring.”

Türkiye was rewarded for her peace efforts in Syria this week by the surprising move of a unilateral declaration of an end to a 40-year insurgency by the Kurdish PKK.

Reuters reports 12th May 2025

“The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, which has been locked in bloody conflict with Turkey for more than four decades, has decided to disband and end its armed struggle, group members and Turkish leaders said on Monday…The PKK's decision, at a congress last week, could boost NATO member Turkey's political and economic stability and encourage moves to ease tensions in neighbouring Iraq and Syria, where Kurdish forces are allied with U.S. forces. Speaking after a cabinet meeting in Ankara, President Tayyip Erdogan said the decision was an important step, and labeled the move an ‘important threshold’ towards Ankara's goal of a terrorism-free country. ‘With terror and violence being completely disengaged, the doors of a new era in every area, namely strengthening politics and democratic capacity, will be opened,’ he said. ‘The winners will be our people and country, and actually all our siblings in our region,’ he added….The group's dramatic announcement comes as Erdogan seeks to capitalise on what he sees as the vulnerabilities of affiliated Kurdish forces in Syria after the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad to Turkey-backed rebels in December…’There are practical steps that will be taken and we will follow those closely,' he told a press conference alongside the Syrian and Jordanian foreign ministers in Ankara on Monday.”

The PKK said they were no longer interested in creating a separate Kurdish state.

The Times reports 13th May 2025:

“…In its statement, the PKK said it ‘has completed its historic mission,’ which over the years shifted to seeking greater Kurdish rights and limited autonomy in southeast Turkey, rather than an independent state.”

And just like that, with the end of the PKK the territorial integrity of Turkey and Syria just got stronger, making the goal of regional peace that much easier, as if by magic.

As we have long been forecasting here at Radical Media, a grand regional settlement for peace is coming.

Radical Media reports 19th February 2025:

6) Trump Parts with Netanyahu & Offers Peace to Iran

Not stopping there, in what seems like ‘Eid come early, President Trump used the momentum gained by his Hamas hostage release, and Russia and Syria peace overtures, to catch Netanyahu’s Israel totally off guard by agreeing to a ceasefire with the Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi militia, all while offering peace to Iran too.

The Times reports 12th May 2025:

The Times reports 12th May 2025:

“Apparent cracks between Trump’s administration and Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, may have provided some room to manoeuvre. Netanyahu, who was planning a military strike on Iran, was blindsided by Trump’s announcement of talks with Iran in March, and again this month when Trump announced a ceasefire with the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.”

In Trump’s Saudi speech, he appeared to repudiate Netanyahu for wanting to cast Iran as a permanent enemy, declaring instead that he prefers peace.

Click to play:

President Trump in Saudi Arabia: “I'm here today not merely to condemn the past chaos of Iran's leaders, but to offer them a new path and a much better path toward a far better and more hopeful future. As I've shown repeatedly, I am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even if our differences may be very profound, which obviously they are in the case of Iran. I have never believed in having permanent enemies. I am different than a lot of people think. I don't like permanent enemies, but sometimes... You need enemies to do the job, and you have to do it right. Enemies get you motivated. In fact, some of the closest friends of the United States of America are nations we fought wars against in generations past, and now they're our friends and our allies. I want to make a deal with Iran. If I can make a deal with Iran, I'll be very happy if we're going to make your region and the world a safer place. But if Iran's leadership rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbours, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure, drive Iranian oil exports to zero, like I did before, You know that? They were a virtually bankrupt country because of what I did. They had no money for terror. They had no money for Hamas or Hezbollah. And take all action required to stop the regime from ever having a nuclear weapon. Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.”

Radical Media had already forecast that this too would be the case.

Radical Media reports 16th April 2025:

As has been reported in multiple media outlets, Israel appears to have been caught off-guard by Trump’s multiple peace overtures to the region.

Netanyahu himself seems to be throwing a tantrum, threatening to permanently occupy all of Gaza.

The Times reports 5th May 2025:

The Times reports 5th May 2025:

”Israel’s security cabinet has approved plans to occupy all of Gaza and stay there for an indeterminate period, breaking a longstanding taboo, even at increased risk to the remaining hostages held by Hamas...The move to occupy Gaza is likely to draw strong international condemnation and was heavily criticised by families of some of the remaining hostages. It would be put into operation after President Trump’s visit to the Middle East next week, which is now seen as a last chance to reach a ceasefire deal…Under the ceasefire deal agreed days before Trump entered the White House in January, Israel was supposed to withdraw gradually from the strip in return for the release of all the hostages, living and dead, in three stages. However, Israel reopened its offensive at the end of the first stage. There are now believed to be 24 living hostages held by Hamas or allied groups, all men. Hamas is also holding about 35 bodies as bargaining chips.”

Meanwhile, Trump has been cautioning against imposing further suffering on Gaza.

Click to play:

Arab leaders would have used the Saudi summit to impress upon Trump the need for a swift end to the Gaza war.

The Times reports 13th May 2025:

“Trump will attend an investment conference and a Gulf Arab summit, and is also expected to meet a group of regional leaders including Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian National Authority, and President Aoun of Lebanon….It is expected they will also seek to sway Trump into pressuring Israel to end the war in Gaza, and not go through with a plan to occupy and retain control over parts of the territory.”

But Israeli hardliners such as Netanyahu’s coalition partner Smotrich are insisting that the solution is to occupy all of Gaza immediately.

The Times reports 5th May 2025:

“Some Israelis have already stopped reporting for duty, many citing burnout and others explicitly saying they do not agree with the continuation of fighting. The families call it the ‘Smotrich-Netanyahu plan’, a reference to the hardline finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich. He openly said on Monday that the government had agreed for Israel to stay in the Gaza Strip and not leave ‘even in exchange for hostages’. ‘We are finally going to occupy the Gaza Strip,’ he told a conference in Jerusalem. ‘We will stop being afraid of the word ‘occupation’.’…Smotrich is backed by extremist Israeli settlers who believe Gaza should be reoccupied by Jews. Israel withdrew its forces and citizens in the unilateral 2005 disengagement under Ariel Sharon, then prime minister, leading to elections in Gaza and a violent takeover by Hamas. ‘Once we occupy and remain in the Gaza Strip, we can start talking about sovereignty,’ Smotrich said.”

Click to play:

Despite such threats, Trump is reported to have sidelined Netanyahu amid reports that the American president is growing tired of Israeli intransigence, with US Defence Secretary Hegseth even cancelling a planned meeting in Israel.

The Middle East Eye reports 9th May 2025:

“For months, Trump has scorned Netanyahu on the talks as his closest media allies attack ‘Mossad agents’ trying to hamstring the US leader. By his own admission, Trump even resisted Israeli pressure to launch a preemptive attack on the Islamic Republic. At the same time, Trump gave Netanyahu his full backing to wage war on Gaza and choke it of supplies. He also won plaudits in Israel for unleashing a bombing campaign on the Houthis in Yemen. Now, Trump is moving to silence the guns in Yemen and come to an accommodation with Israel on Gaza that is upsetting Netanyahu’s base. ‘At this stage, it's clear Trump will take some big decisions unilaterally without significant consideration of Israeli interests when he wants to, like on Iran or Yemen,’ Michael Wahid Hanna, director of the US programme at International Crisis Group, told MEE…On Friday, Israeli media reported that US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth had cancelled an upcoming visit to Israel. The visit was scheduled to begin a day before Trump's visit to the Gulf on 13 May. Hegseth was set to meet Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz.”

Trump seems intent on honouring the Yemeni Houthi ceasefire while continuing peace talks with Iran regardless of what Netanyahu would prefer, leaving Israel out in the cold.

The Middle East Eye reports 9th May 2025:

“On Tuesday, Trump made a surprise announcement to enter a ‘ceasefire’ with the Houthis. The decision is likely to remove an irritant in the nuclear talks with Iran because the Houthis receive weapons and training from Tehran. The US and Iran are scheduled to meet in Oman for their fourth round of talks on Sunday, just before Trump arrives in the Gulf…Trump’s announcement also delighted US Arab allies and Saudi Arabia. The former had been lobbying Trump for an end to the attacks before his arrival in the kingdom, MEE reported. It also appeased Trump’s war-wary ‘America First’ base. But the decision shook Israel because Trump conditioned the truce on the Houthis not attacking global shipping, leaving Israel out in the cold. The ceasefire came just days after a Houthi missile struck near the main terminal of Israel's Ben Gurion Airport.”

Trump’s peace initiatives extended to US normalisation talks with Saudi Arabia over commercial-use nuclear energy too. Ditching the Biden-years condition that all US-Saudi normalisation talks must be conditional to recognition of Israel by Saudi Arabia, Trump seems to have entirely frozen out Netanyahu.

The Middle East Eye reports 9th May 2025:

“Riyadh has effectively pre-negotiated Trump’s visit to block talk of normalisation without a ceasefire in Gaza or movement towards a Palestinian state, Arab officials told MEE. But Trump doesn’t appear to want to wait for Netanyahu. His energy secretary, Chris Wright, said last month that the US had made progress with Saudi Arabia toward an agreement on helping Riyadh develop a commercial nuclear power industry. Meanwhile, Trump’s National Security Council spread the word with business figures ahead of his visit that the administration was not tied to linking a nuclear energy deal - worth billions of dollars - to normalisation with Israel, a former senior US official told MEE. That represents a pivotal change that removes one of three key pillars that the Biden administration was using to entice Riyadh into signing a normalisation deal with Israel…just the possibility that Trump could sell Saudi Arabia nuclear technology without normalisation alarmed Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who was helping the Biden administration negotiate a normalisation deal. ‘I would like to make it crystal clear that I will never support a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia or other elements of a proposed deal that does not include normalizing the relationship with Israel as a part of the package,’ Graham wrote on X on Thursday…So, from Yemen to nuclear energy, Trump is telling Netanyahu he won’t let him spoil his second Arabian Gulf debut.”

Netanyahu is not having a very good month.

Spectator Index reports 8th May 2025:

By way of a warning shot by Trump to his entire administration, he fired his National Security Adviser Mike Waltz for working behind his back to enable Netanyahu’s war mongering.

The Washington Post reports 3rd May 2025:

The Signal scandal that so disturbed US media last week was actually about this.

In a surprising development, news of the reason for Waltz’s dismissal being his proximity to Netanyahu has not been hidden, rather it has been the focus of the story.

Click to play:

Even Netanyahu is now seeing the writing on the wall, declaring this week that Isreal will need to wean itself off US security aid.

The Middle East Eye reports 13th May 2025:

“Some of Trump’s closest media allies, like Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson, have stepped up their criticism of Israel’s occupation of the occupied West Bank and war on Gaza in a way that would have been unimaginable for the allies of a Republican president two decades ago. Astute political operators sense change is in the air. ‘We receive close to $4bn for arms. I think we will have to wean ourselves off of American security aid, just as we weaned ourselves off of American economic aid,’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, in a potential nod to the the growing power of Trump whisperers who want the US to focus on spending at home, not abroad.”

Such developments would have seemed impossible only a year ago. American patience for Netanyahu’s Israeli war games has finally, after so many decades, worn thin.

New York Times reports by Thomas Friedman, 9th May 2025:

Netanyahu has overplayed his hand, just as we at Radical Media said would be the case, only twenty days after the October 7th attacks.

7) Netanyahu in Domestic Trouble

Keeping with the theme of the October 7th attacks, Netanyahu has trouble brewing closer to home too.

In a shocking series of events, it is has been alleged by Israel’s domestic intelligence service Shin Bet, that the terrorist attack by Hamas was highly likely to have been facilitated years in advance, by Netanyahu.

Jerusalem Post reports 24th March 2025:

“While the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) took a significant amount of responsibility for the disasters on October 7 in its report published unexpectedly on Tuesday, it also implicated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by implying that his policies regarding the Temple Mount, the treatment of Palestinian prisoners, and the judicial reform led to Hamas’s decision to initiate its long-planned invasion.
Other policies carried out under Netanyahu that the agency flagged as problematic and as contributions to Hamas’s decision to invade were his facilitation of Qatari funding to Hamas and his opposition to proposed assassination operations of top Hamas leaders at the time.”

That last allegation made by the head of Israel’s Shin Bet, of Netanyahu’s ‘opposition to proposed assassination operations of top Hamas leaders at the time’ was explained in detail by the Radical Dispatch 18th October 2024:

This view goes some way to explaining why Israel’s CCTV footage at the Gaza border from October 7th has since disappeared…

To continue reading about the head of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar’s allegations that Netanyahu facilitated October 7th and to gain access to the WARRIOR CREED podcast become a premium member of Radical Media...