{"id":93812,"date":"2025-10-23T18:38:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T18:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/93812\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T18:38:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T18:38:08","slug":"analysis-americas-51st-state-us-pressure-comes-to-bear-on-israel-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/93812\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysis: America\u2019s 51st state? US pressure comes to bear on Israel | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A succession of high-ranking US officials have found themselves in Israel in recent days \u2013 first special envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential adviser Jared Kushner<\/a> on Monday, then Vice President JD Vance<\/a> on Tuesday, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Their focus has been clear \u2013 to stop the US-backed Gaza ceasefire deal<\/a> from collapsing. And that essentially means ensuring that the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not back out of the agreement, which ended two years of war earlier this month.<\/p>\n

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The presence of the US officials in Israel has been described as \u201cbabysitting\u201d \u2013 designed to twist the arm of a far-right government itching to find any excuse to relaunch the war, which killed more than 68,000 Palestinians.<\/p>\n

And so far, the administration of US President Donald Trump appears to have largely succeeded, highlighting what some analysts deem to be Israeli subservience to the US, and an acknowledgment that when Washington orders Israel to do something, the latter will ultimately agree.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, Israel is a client state of the US,\u201d Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador and consul general in New York, told Al Jazeera. Pinkas referred to the billions of dollars Israel receives from the US in aid, the dozens of times Washington uses its veto to protect Israel from criticism or sanction at the United Nations, and its military protection of Israel.<\/p>\n

Now the Trump administration is leveraging that support and doing what is a rare occurrence when it comes to relations between the two countries: forcing Israel to act according to the US\u2019s wishes, and making public Washington\u2019s pressure on Israel.<\/p>\n

Some of that has come from Trump himself \u2013 in an interview published by Time Magazine on Thursday, the US president said that he had stopped Netanyahu from continuing the Gaza war. \u201cYou know, I stopped him, because he would have just kept going,\u201d Trump said. \u201cIt could have gone on for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump also made it clear in the same interview that Israel would lose \u201call support\u201d from the US if it proceeded with the annexation of the occupied West Bank, which its parliament or Knesset preliminarily approved on Wednesday. Vance also voiced his opposition<\/a> to an Israeli parliamentary vote on annexation, calling it \u201cvery stupid\u201d.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu understood the message, and his office called the vote a \u201cpolitical provocation\u201d \u2013 even as members of his own government voted in favour, and even though he himself has previously backed annexation.<\/p>\n

An unequal partnership<\/p>\n

The US has always been the stronger party in the relationship with Israel. It is the global superpower, while Israel is an ally with a traditionally large constituency of support within the US.<\/p>\n

But US governments, for whatever reason, have often tried to avoid any direct confrontation with Israel. Former US President Joe Biden adopted a \u201cbear hug\u201d policy towards Israel during the first three months of the war on Gaza, arguing that the Israelis needed to be publicly backed in order to convince them to avoid going too far in their destruction of the Palestinian enclave.<\/p>\n

\"NetanyahuUS President Joe Biden\u2019s \u2018bear hug\u2019 approach provided no restraint on Israel in its total war on Gaza [File: Evelyn Hockstein\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

That did not work, with Netanyahu repeatedly ignoring attempts to get him to agree to a ceasefire. Instead, it was Trump, who is incredibly popular in Israel for the support he gave the country in his first term, who has taken the relatively more confrontational route with Israel since his return to the presidency. So far, it appears to be working.<\/p>\n

\u201cBenjamin Netanyahu has been put on notice,\u201d Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House, told Al Jazeera. \u201cThe US team can say all these different things \u2013\u00a0 as they are doing \u2013\u00a0 but it\u2019s pretty obvious what their agenda is.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at the 60 Minutes interview [US presidential adviser Jared] Kushner and [US special envoy Steve] Witkoff gave where they spoke of betrayal and a loss of control. To my mind, this contradicts all the shows of friendliness we\u2019re seeing in the Israeli press. This is the Trump administration coming over and saying quite clearly: \u2018You do as you\u2019re told.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Mekelberg was referring to an interview aired by CBS News last week, in which Witkoff described both himself and Kushner as feeling \u201ca little bit betrayed\u201d by Israel\u2019s decision to strike<\/a> at the Hamas negotiating team in Doha, Qatar in September. Continuing, Kushner emphasised how Trump, his father-in-law, had felt the Israelis \u201cwere getting a little bit out of control in what they were doing, and that it was time to be very strong and stop them from doing things that he felt were not in their long-term interests\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"PresidentPresident Donald Trump talks with Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, Monday, October 13, 2025, in West Jerusalem [Evan Vucci\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

That may go to the root of explaining how Trump, despite his clear support for Israel and his past disparagement of the Palestinians, has been so vocal in criticising Israeli actions. The framing from his administration is that Trump\u2019s restraint of Israel is in the latter\u2019s benefit, highlighting the primacy of the US in the relationship, while also emphasising the bond between the US and Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe relationship between the US and Israel is a central part of both countries\u2019 policies,\u201d said Mitchell Barak, a former aide to Netanyahu. \u201cIt\u2019s built on a shared sense of Judeo-Christian values, but Israel is also a valuable strategic partner to the US; it\u2019s also vital in its regional policy as well as providing advances in innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what\u2019s more \u2013 as we\u2019re seeing from both US business, as well as the Trump family business, who are heavily invested in the region \u2013 stability and peace are profitable for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s true that Israel\u2019s lost some of its independence in this, but there\u2019s nothing new in that,\u201d Barak added. \u201cI think that\u2019s what we\u2019re seeing right now in the way the US is managing the ceasefire. It\u2019s a combination of carrot and stick and right now, with Vance and the others over, is a reminder of the stick.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"USUS Vice President JD Vance and Israeli President Isaac Herzog meet at the Beit HaNassi presidential residence in West Jerusalem on October 22, 2025 [Nathan Howard\/Pool via Reuters]<\/p>\n

And as for the carrot, Trump can focus on what he believes Netanyahu wants \u2013 political success, and an end to the prime minister\u2019s legal troubles.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the Knesset to mark the ceasefire in early October, Trump called upon Israel\u2019s President Isaac Herzog to pardon Netanyahu in the multiple corruption cases he has faced since 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump can do that,\u201d Mekelberg said. \u201cHe can say to Netanyahu, look, I\u2019ll come over. I\u2019ll talk to the Knesset, I can even ask for you to be pardoned, but in return, you follow the script.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Hogwash\u2019<\/p>\n

Suggestions that Israel has lost much of its independence in its dealings with the US have appeared to rankle Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018I want to put it very clearly. One week, they say that Israel controls the United States. A week later, they say the United States controls Israel. This is hogwash,\u201d said the prime minister, in response to a question about Israel being beholden to the US.<\/p>\n

Irrespective of Netanyahu\u2019s protestations about US control of Israel, much of the evidence contradicts him. In addition to the current US diplomatic blitz, intended to ensure that Netanyahu carries through with the ceasefire, there are other instances of the Trump administration determining Israeli policy.<\/p>\n

The ceasefire itself was announced during Netanyahu\u2019s last visit to Washington, seen as a tactic by some observers intended to have the prime minister commit to its terms publicly before returning to Israel.<\/p>\n

Similarly, during the same visit, Netanyahu found himself being shepherded into issuing a formal apology to the Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani for the strike on Doha. And critically, during the conclusion of Israel\u2019s 12-day war on Iran in June, it was Trump who ordered Netanyahu to stop a planned Israeli strike after the start of the ceasefire.<\/p>\n

For observers such as Pinkas, these actions have been a pointed reminder to Netanyahu and others of the asymmetrical nature of the relationship between Israel and the US, not least under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re [also] delineating Israel\u2019s freedom of movement,\u201d Pinkas said. \u201cThey\u2019re letting Netanyahu and others know that they\u2019re free to go so far without consultation, but that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

\u201c[And] they\u2019re reminding Netanyahu that he\u2019s essentially out of options in the US. The Democrats can\u2019t stand him, public opinion has turned against him, and there are many in the Republican Party, and specifically the MAGA [Make America Great Again] wing, who are asking questions about him. He can no longer play one side against the other. This is it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A succession of high-ranking US officials have found themselves in Israel in recent days \u2013 first special envoy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,54,85,46,44,47,43,48,1032,1156],"class_list":["post-93812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-donald-trump","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-israel-palestine-conflict","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-palestine","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}