12/5/2025–|Last update: 12:39 (Mecca time)
The day before the visit of US President Donald Trump to the Middle East, the Israeli leadership is living in unusual anxiety. Unlike the tone of confidence that usually overwhelms the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, silence and apprehension prevail.
Sources close to the Netanyahu office revealed to the Haaretz newspaper that a state of “uncertainty” prevails in the Israeli political and security circles, especially with the Trump team’s conquest of details of its agenda.
“Often, we do not know what President Trump intends to do or say,” one of Netanyahu’s aides said.
It appears that the state of arrogance, which usually characterizes the behavior of the Israeli leadership, has declined, replacing accurate accounts on how to deal with American moves in the region.
The visit includes an economic conference in which major businessmen from the United States and Saudi Arabia will participate to announce huge joint investments, while Trump will hold a summit with the leaders of the Gulf states the next day, before leaving to Doha, and then concludes his tour in Abu Dhabi where a huge investment will be revealed in the American market.
Gaza aid plan … a division in vision and financing
The first sensitive file in Trump’s visit is the file of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The Trump administration, in coordination with Israel, formulated a plan to establish a supervisory body that oversees the distribution of aid and prevents its access to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). But the major dilemma lies in financing.
Trump, who is known for his tendency to isolation and his preference for not spending American foreign funds, hopes that the Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Qatar, will fund this mechanism. But these countries explicitly informed Washington that they refuse to finance a new body outside the framework of the United Nations agencies, and believes that the solution lies in stopping the war, not to circumvent its roots, according to Haaretz.
With the increasing risk of starvation and the lack of an alternative plan for Israel, the failure of the American plan may lead to a political escalation within the Israeli government, especially with a clear division between militants and Netanyahu himself about the aid file.
The prisoners’ deal and the end of the war .. Is Netanyahu hugging?
The second issue that may explode the dispute between Trump and Netanyahu related to an American plan to end the war in Gaza, which includes a deal for the stage of the Israeli prisoners, in exchange for a gradual endowment of military operations and the end of Hamas’s rule in the Strip.
In the best scenario, Trump, supported by Arab countries, will announce a plan that leads to ending the war without eliminating Hamas and release the Israeli prisoners in the movement immediately.
As for the worst scenario, Israel or Hamas will reject the plan, and Trump abandons the file so that the war continues and the prisoners die, which is considered by some Israeli government officials “the best scenario” for the survival of the current right -wing government in an additional year.
On the other hand, Tel Aviv is afraid that Trump will announce an initiative without prior coordination with it, including his pledge to establish a “Palestinian state without Hamas”, a scenario that the Israeli leadership considers a direct threat to its policies.
The Iranian file .. The voice of Israel is not heard
The third and most dangerous issue from the point of view of Israel is the Iranian nuclear file. While Tel Aviv was a major player in this file, she now looks outside the circle of influence.
The Trump administration is seeking to reach a temporary memorandum of understanding with Iran on the nuclear program, allowing the American president to announce a preliminary agreement, with technical teams to complete the details later.
Despite Trump’s private envoy to the Middle East, Stephen Witkeov, that “Iran should not be allowed to enrich uranium,” Washington is open to compromise, such as fertilization under international supervision and in specific locations only.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s position appears to be more like “screaming from the stands” without anyone responding to him, in the words of an Israeli observer.
Trump’s visit comes in a critical moment, amid a continuous aggression against Gaza, a worsening humanitarian crisis and a latter in Washington and Tel Aviv relations.
If Trump succeeds in moving the files of Gaza, the prisoners and Iran, he may score a detailed point in his second presidential term. If his visit fails, it may let the area be drowned in a long war, and internal divisions in Israel themselves.
The most important question arises: Will this visit be the beginning of a shift in American policy towards Israel?