He wants to save lives. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt repeats this sentence about Donald Trump. He himself made a line of conduct which he adapts sometimes to Ukraine, sometimes in the Middle East, as if to say: from grace, believe me, I am the president of peace. However, recently, some had doubts about the peaceful intentions of the American president. When, on Saturday, June 21, Donald Trump launched the “midnight hammer” operation by bombing the Iranian nuclear sites, the Trumpism barons that are Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon saw red. Was the president denying one of his campaign promises? Was he going to reconnect with the endless wars characteristic of his predecessors?
When, 24 hours later, the warrior Trump found the face of the apostle of peace, tearing from the general surprise of a cease-fire between Israel and Iran, even his enemies recognized that his diplomacy had a meaning. Having its power can also be an effective way of obtaining peace.
Business virtues
Galvanized by this first diplomatic success, after the failure of a war in Ukraine which he claimed to settle in 24 hours, Donald Trump hopes to push his advantage. For the visit of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu in Washington on Monday, July 7, he targets no more or less than the ceasefire in Gaza. “It is terrible to see these images that come to us from Israel and Gaza since the start of this war, and the president wants them to end”specifies the spokesperson for the White House. The American president hates war and believes hard as iron that business can settle secular litigation. It was also the message of his first tour in the Middle East last May, where he filled the American funds of hundreds of billions of Saudi money, Qatari and Emirati while predicting the end of conflicts through commercial relations.
Since then, relations between Donald Trump and Benyamin Netanyahu have warmed up. At the time, Trump had avoided Israel. He had negotiated a ceasefire in his corner with the Houthis who did not concern the Hebrew state and dismissed his national security advisor, Mike Waltz, accused of coordinating without having consulted him potential strikes against Iranian nuclear sites with Israeli officials. Basically, Mike Waltz did the same thing as Trump in Iran, but a month too early. However, at Trump, everything is in the calendar. So, after having made a common front with Netanyahu against Iran, he no longer sees things in the same way. He even allowed himself to interfere in Israeli internal affairs by qualifying the trial for corruption of which the Prime Minister of “Witch hunt”. Netanyahu praised this harmony found on X, by a common goal: “Make the Middle East Great Again” (“To return its greatness to the Middle East”). As for what is at the end of this formula, doubt remains.
By triggering his strikes against Iran on June 12, Netanyahu will not have managed to embark the United States in his war. The support offered by Trump with the release of GBU-57 bombs on the Fordo nuclear site will be a major element in the rapprochement. Trump comes out of it as the president of peace by force. Netanyahu as the Prime Minister on a mission for a overhaul of the Middle East, but who remains unfinished to this day. During these successive warrior episodes, Israel could only note that the Arab countries of the region have not moved, even bringing, like Jordan and Saudi Arabia, aid to intercept Iranian missiles. The Saudis would also have been even more involved than originally announced in their support for Israel. And Syria has offered its airspace to Israeli hunting to carry out its missions against Iran.
The fact remains that Hamas still controls Gaza. Hezbollah, although decreased, still operates in South Lebanon. The Houthis represent a ballistic threat against Israel and in the Red Sea. And the diet has not changed in Iran. As for the nuclear program, the Pentagon now claims that it would have been brought back to one or two years back, a way of indicating that it was not destroyed, which was one of the goals. Trump is aware that the response to October 7 brought major blows to the enemies of Israel, but without destroying any. In addition, and it is there that he intends to highlight his compassion for the victims, the humanitarian situation in Gaza has become so appalling that the image of Israel suffers.
Trump comes out as the president of peace by force
It is a safe bet that unlike Netanyahu’s first visit to Washington, at the start of Trump’s mandate, the latter will no longer speak of his project to transform the territory into “Côte d’Azur”. In Trump, this evocation corresponded to the psychology of the character who sees in the ostentatious and the luxury of the conditions for happiness. Today he says he no longer remembers having used this formula. Help with victims, reconstruction, Trump is ready to go far to get a ceasefire and the return of the hostages. Gaza is the start of the conflict cycle. Gaza is a task that dirty the image of the claimed protector of Israel and which allowed Netanyahu to chain six mandates. The Iranian case seemed insoluble, will Trump still surprise? He is certain and announces a ceasefire for the coming weeks.
