President Donald Trump will descend in the Middle East on Tuesday, and will be taking a regional tour starting in Saudi Arabia and including stops in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. This is a business trip in all senses and includes a potential few trillions of dollars in investment and trade transactions.
For example, the UAE has already pledged $1.4 trillion in US investments for over a decade, ranging from artificial intelligence and energy to mining and aluminum production. Saudi Arabia has pledged to invest $600 million in the US over the next four years. Trump will also provide the kingdom with a weapons package for a $100 million adjustment, according to Reuters news agency.
Meanwhile, in line with the president’s nepotism and a self-rich, solid history, it seems like it just happens that the Trump organization currently governs real estate projects and other business ventures in all three Gulf countries he plans to visit.
Still, one country, despite being a long-standing US BFF in the Middle East, does not stand out local itineraries. Israel has been committing genocide in the Gaza Strip for the past 19 months with the help of US money and weapons. The official Palestine deaths count at almost 53,000.
Genocide began with the clock of his predecessor, President Joe Biden, but Trump quickly embraced the genocide and announced shortly after reconsidering the office in Gaza that he was sending Israel, which he needed to send everything he needed to finish his job. However, it appears that Israel is taking a little time to prefer the US president. In particular, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stipulated a fierce attack on enclaves that have already been largely reduced to tile rubs.
Of course, the problem isn’t that Trump will care if Palestinian children and adults continue to be slaughtered and dying of starvation while Israel takes the time to “finish work.” Rather, the ongoing genocide simply hinders the vision of the “Middle Eastern Riviera” that emerges from the ruins of Gaza.
So, while war may be good for business, I’m just asking the arms industry, but from a Trump real estate perspective, it seems that too much war could ultimately be counterproductive investment.
He reports that tensions are increasingly widespread between the US president and the Israeli Prime Minister, not just the Gaza front in preparation for Trump’s Middle East expedition. On Sunday, NBC News said Netanyahu was “blind and furious” by Trump’s announcement that the US had suspended its military movement against Iran-backed Hutis in Yemen over the past week.
Clearly, even more annoying for the Israeli Prime Minister is Trump’s refusal to support a military strike against Iran. Additionally, the United States reportedly has abandoned its demand for Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel as a condition of US support for the Kingdom’s civil nuclear program.
So what does the tense Trump Netanyahu trust mean for an unprecedented “special relationship” between the United States and Israel? According to an article released by Israeli outlet Ynetnews, “despite the tensions, Israeli officials argue that behind-the-scenes coordination with the Trump administration remains close by without any real policy rifts.”
The dispatch assures readers that US Israeli Ambassador Mike Huckabee “denies rumours that Trump may announce support for the Palestinian state during his visit.” Of course, it is not clear what “Palestinian state” could be promoted by men proposing US ownership in the Gaza Strip and the expulsion of native Palestinians.
Israel may be on the sidelines on this trip, but that does not mean that it generally does not continue to serve important functions in the malice of the United States. Last month, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gwil – the source of the idea that “there is no reason for food or aid to enter Gaza” was hosted by Republican officials at Trump’s Mar Lago resort in Florida. After dinner was held in his honor, Ben Gwil said that Republicans “expressing support for my very clear position on how to act in Gaza and boasting that they should bomb the food and aid depot.
Aside from the flashy trillion-dollar Bay, we reassure the Trump administration that it remains as committed as ever to exploit Israeli atrocities.
The views expressed in this article are the authors themselves and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.