US President Donald Trump’s impulsiveness means that anything – absolutely anything – can happen during his upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE from US recognition of a Palestinian state and a nuclear deal with Iran, to the release of Israeli captives held by Hamas and Washington’s backing for nuclear power plants in Saudi Arabia.
Episode 5 of The Jerusalem Dispatch
In episode five of The Jerusalem Dispatch with Elliot Jager and Calev Ben David, veteran journalist Ben-David posits that the trip could enshrine the primacy inside the Trump administration of the neo-isolationist America First camp led by Vice President JD Vance over the camp docilely led by Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio. One indication is Trump’s deal with the Houthis in Yemen that gave nary a thought about Israel, Ben-David stated.
Jager, a fellow journalist and political scientist, pointed out that Israeli media outlets that once touted Trump’s support for Israel are anxious that his ties with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are fraying. Jager was incensed by the way Trump cavalierly revealed that there were fewer living Israeli hostages in Gaza than first thought.
Besides previewing Trump’s Mideast visit, Ben-David lambasted the Pulitzer Prize Committee, which is under the auspices of the Columbia Journalism School, for awarding Mosab Abu Toha an award for commentary despite his October 7 denialism. But he gave kudos to Claire Shipman, acting president of Columbia University, for promptly suspending anti-Israel student protestors who tried to take over the main campus library.
Jager looked back at Pope Leo XIII’s namesake, Leo XIII, whose unsettling attitude toward Jews has escaped attention. And Jager also noted the 50th anniversary of Ofra, the first settlement in Samaria. The settlement enterprise is expecting the Netanyahu government to annex the West Bank and for the Trump administration’s endorsement. Ben-David pointed out that the last president to block annexation was named Donald Trump.