The Trump administration is rallying around Israel, but not Netanyahu

 

The Trump administration is rallying around Israel, but not Netanyahu

 

Israel sees Thursday’s shooting as a new front in a regional war. The White House views it through a domestic lens.

 

By Felicia Schwartz, Jake Traylor and Eli Stokols

05/22/2025 07:09 PM EDT

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/22/israeli-embassy-killing-us-israel-dynamic-00366681

 

President Donald Trump was quick to condemn the killing of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington and has called himself the most pro-Israel president in U.S. history. But, behind the scenes, there is a growing rift between him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

Five current and former U.S. officials say Trump and Netanyahu’s relationship has been under strain in recent weeks as they’ve disagreed about how to handle multiple Middle East crises — and the shocking killing in Washington is unlikely to change that.

 

While U.S. and Israeli officials say it would be too strong to describe the current situation as a rupture, a growing number of people in the Trump administration feel frustrated with Israel and its approach to Washington and the Middle East, the officials said.

 

“There’s a cadre in the administration who doesn’t particularly care for Israel, they have no special attachment to Israel. They view them as a partner but not one we should be going out of our way to be doing favors for,” a former Trump administration official said. Like others, the person was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic dynamics.

 

Not helping matters is Netanyahu’s approach to the U.S. relationship, which lacks the deference and pomp and circumstance that Trump and his team have appreciated in dealing with other partners in the Middle East.

 

Many in the administration feel that “the most difficult person to work with on all these files is Bibi,” said a person close to the White House.

 

That’s a rift that Wednesday’s fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers by a pro-Palestinian activist is unlikely to change. Trump appears to see the killings as more of an indication of a need to further crack down on antisemitism in the United States. And Trump’s views on Israel and on antisemitism are “different things,” one administration official said.

 

Israeli officials are taking the opposite approach — describing Wednesday’s attack as opening a new front in the wider Middle East war, including from Hamas in Gaza and Iran and its proxies elsewhere on its borders.

 

“This is done in the name of a political agenda to eradicate the State of Israel,” Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said Thursday. “This is the eighth front in the war to demonize, de-legitimize, to eradicate the right of the State of Israel to exist.”

 

Netanyahu’s office said he spoke with Trump on Thursday and the president “expressed deep sorrow over the shocking murder in Washington of two Israeli embassy employees.” They also discussed Iran and the war in Gaza, according to an Israeli account of the call.

 

But the sense inside the White House is that the Israelis are constantly asking for more from the U.S. even as the relationship has not yielded the kind of quick diplomatic wins that Trump and his team are searching for.

 

“Netanyahu is one of those people who pushes and pushes, and that can rub Trump the wrong way,” the former administration official said.

 

The Trump administration has pressured Netanyahu and his government to allow more aid into the shattered Gaza Strip. And Trump has put distance between himself and Israel’s government — reaching a ceasefire with Houthi militants in Yemen that excluded Israel and bucking opposition from Netanyahu as he tries to reach an agreement with Iran over its nuclear program. Trump’s decision not to visit Israel on his recent trip to the Middle East was also seen by many as a public snub.

 

If the attack outside the Capital Jewish Museum prompts action by the Trump administration, it is more likely to be on the domestic front.

 

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in Thursday comments about the murders that “the evil of antisemitism must be eradicated from our society.”

 

Trump has prioritized curtailing antisemitism on college campuses, actions that are popular in the pro-Israel and Jewish community. A Harvard task force and other independent assessments agree there are issues to address but the administration’s approach is seen as heavy-handed by many critics.

 

The administration and its supporters say measures — even extreme ones like deportation proceedings — are necessary to root out antisemitic sentiments that have taken hold at schools and on college campuses. Such feelings have worsened since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Wednesday’s attack is sure to add more justification for the administration’s efforts.

 

The White House emphasis on antisemitism may also allow Trump to respond to the deadly attack while siloing it from the broader questions looming over his bilateral relationship with Israel.

 

Trump came to power hoping that the Israel file would offer quick wins, including long-sought normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia. He dispatched his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to help broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas even before his inauguration in what seemed to be an early victory.

 

The success was short-lived. The deal collapsed in March and Riyadh has made clear normalization will not happen without a permanent end to the fighting and significant steps toward a Palestinian state — concessions Netanyahu has been unwilling to make.

 

With Hamas weakened and Iran on the back foot, many in the Trump administration see an opportunity to end the fighting in Gaza and reach a deal with Tehran over its nuclear program. Netanyahu, meanwhile, wants to press on with the war and is opposed to U.S. attempts to broker an agreement with Iran.

 

Trump is increasingly hearing mixed advice on how he should deal with Israel, according to a current administration official and the former official. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and CIA director John Ratcliffe have similar pro-Israel views while Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has advocated a more measured approach with the American ally.

 

As a result of that divide, Trump has been more silent on Israel in recent weeks, the current administration official said.

 

Beyond Trump’s strained personal relationship with Netanyahu, there are other factors that explain his shifting loyalties in the Middle East, cast in sharp relief by the president’s first major foreign trip, which included visits with Arab allies in the Gulf but not Israel.

 

“He’s more committed at the moment to the Saudis and the Emiratis than Israel, which is kind of amazing but it’s true,” said one person close to the president’s national security team. The Arab allies, the person noted, “are playing his game — writing big checks — and they’re supporting the nuclear talks with Iran.”

 

And while Trump initially backed Netanyahu’s decision to escalate his assault on Gaza, he has grown frustrated with the conflict. That’s because, the person close to Trump’s national security team said, he views the war as an impediment to his vision of rebuilding Gaza and to the expansion of the Abraham Accords under which several Arab nations have normalized relations with Israel. The Saudis, however, have refused to take that step while Israel is at war with Hamas.

 

“There’s a lot that explains the shift” toward the Arab allies and away from Israel, the person said. “He can always recalibrate with Bibi, but this has been developing for some time.”