Does Benjamin Netanyahu still have Donald Trump’s ear?

Good morning and welcome to White House Watch! Donald Trump is in the United Arab Emirates as part of his Middle East tour, but he and Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to skip the Ukraine-Russia talks in Turkey. Let’s jump right into:

• Netanyahu’s downgraded status

• What has Doge actually accomplished?

• Trump’s shift on Ukraine

As Trump jets around the Middle East, there is one place glaringly absent from his itinerary: Israel.

Benjamin Netanyahu loves to brag about his closeness to the US president. But with the Israeli prime minister reduced to spectator status for Trump’s deal-filled trip, there seems to be a rupture between the two leaders.

On Monday, Hamas released an American-Israeli hostage after negotiations between Washington and the militant group that bypassed Netanyahu, who was only formally informed after the fact. 

Then on Tuesday, Trump lifted sanctions on Syria and yesterday met its new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who Israel has denounced as a dangerous jihadist. Trump called the new leader “young, attractive” and a “fighter”.

This comes after Trump split from Netanyahu earlier this month when he announced a truce with Yemen’s Houthi militants, despite Israel’s ongoing conflict with the group.

And looming over all of this is a bigger fracture: Trump’s pursuit of direct negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme — a defining issue of Netanyahu’s premiership. 

“It certainly doesn’t look like Netanyahu has Trump’s ear right now — and if he has his ear, he doesn’t have Trump’s heart and mind,” Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the US, told the Financial Times’ Mehul Srivastava and Neri Zilber. 

Netanyahu’s inner circle is “not in hysterics” about Trump not stopping over in Israel, said a person familiar with the issue. But “they don’t love it and they’re not happy,” the person admitted.

Trump’s Middle East trip is about US economic interests in the region — and securing deals with the rich Gulf states. “Israel doesn’t have a trillion dollars to invest in the US,” said Oren. “The Saudis and the Qataris do.”

But a person familiar with US-Israel relations told the FT privately that: “The pattern for Netanyahu has not been great, just in the last two weeks.”

On one hand, Trump is still echoing Netanyahu’s language about Hamas, including over Israel blocking food from entering Gaza. But on the other, as Trump fosters transactional relationships with world leaders, Netanyahu hasn’t given the president the one thing he wants: a quick end to the war in Gaza.

The latest headlines

What we’re hearing

Remember the Oval Office brawl between Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy?

Well, there’s been a marked shift in tone from the Trump administration about Russia’s war in Ukraine. US officials seem increasingly impatient with Vladimir Putin, as their suspicions grow that the Russian president — and not Zelenskyy — might be the biggest impediment to peace. 

“The Americans had this simplistic idea — let’s charm Russia, put pressure on Zelenskyy, and we’ll get a deal,” Wolfgang Ischinger, the former German ambassador to the US, told the FT’s Guy Chazan. “It turned out that simply charming Russia is not enough.”

Trump is starting to get annoyed by Putin, especially after being willing to push for major concessions for Moscow, according to observers. “You hear the frustration in [his] communication,” said Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador to Russia, referring to Trump’s recent comments about the war in Ukraine. “He may be understanding that he has given up too much and not gotten anything in return.”

Vice-president JD Vance, who played a starring role in that infamous Oval Office meeting in February, offered a surprising take last week on a set of Russian proposals to end the war: “We think they’re asking for too much.”

Just a couple of months ago, Trump was insisting that he could trust Putin when it came to the war. 

But now, according to Bill Taylor, who served as the US ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009: “Trump is concluding that Putin is not a friend of the US . . . that he is not negotiating seriously.”

Viewpoints