In June, Trump sealed a ceasefire between Israel and Iran after ordering Netanyahu — by phone and social media post — to call off a wave of airstrikes. The stunning intervention in an ongoing Israeli military operation was a powerful demonstration of the United States’ leverage over its close ally.
There has been no sign of that with the war in Gaza.
Trump has demanded that Hamas release the hostages while exerting no public pressure on Israel to halt or even curtail its operations — as former US President Joe Biden tried to do with limited success.
Beyond providing billions of dollars worth of arms to Israel, the United States has shielded it from UN calls for a ceasefire, sanctioned international judges pursuing Israeli officials, cracked down on campus protests, and even threatened Canada with higher tariffs over its stance on the Mideast conflict.
The influence of other countries over Israel, including the more than 30 Western-aligned nations that have called for the war to end, pales in comparison.
Any pullback in US support would alarm Israelis and might force Netanyahu to make concessions leading to a ceasefire — but there’s no sign of that. And it’s unclear what further pressure could be brought to bear on Hamas in Gaza after nearly all of its top leaders and thousands of fighters have been killed in one of the deadliest and most destructive military onslaughts since World War II.
On Tuesday, Trump told reporters there might be a “conclusive ending” in Gaza in the next two to three weeks, without elaborating.
“I think we’re doing a very good job,” he said. “But it does have to, it does have to end.”
