What is interesting about Trump’s Middle East visit is that it doesn’t include an Israel stop. The FT opinion piece gives us a clue as to why.
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The recent opinion piece from the Financial Times which, in a nutshell, argues that the West should be ashamed by its silence on Gaza is poignant in many ways. Not least for the fact that its author is a British Lebanese editor-in-chief, nor for that matter that it chooses not to point the finger directly at Brussels (there is no greater English language media outlet which is a bigger supporter of the project) but more for its timing. Certainly, the pathetic platitudes like this have come very late and now offer no real substance to helping the Palestinians with their immediate needs – to eat and to stop Israeli wiping them out. But they could arguably be seen as a signal to the western world at precisely the moment Trump arrives in the Middle East to do his dancing with the Saudis and their swords. It took an ‘Arab’ of sorts to see the moment.
Trump will meet Saudi Arabia’s polemic Crown Prince ‘MbS’ in mid-May and then fly onto Qatar to meet the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim al-Thani. On May 15, he’ll visit Abu Dhabi and meet Emirati President Mohammed Bin Zayed (MBZ).
In other words, he starts with those who believe they are running the Middle East, then goes to those who have the cash to do it, but aren’t sure about how to go about it and ends with the leading Arab figure who most analysts agree really is in charge of the whole shooting match.
The main reason for the stunt is to secure big business deals and, perhaps in the vestibules of power discuss geopolitics and conflict as if he can tap into the infinite wisdom of MbZ in Abu Dhabi, then that would be considered a cherry on top of the gateau. The UAE has influence in the entire region that its neighbours do not and could be very useful to Trump with resolving the Yemen threat, tensions in Lebanon, a new Iran nuclear deal and even defusing Pakistan-Indian conflict.
What is interesting about the Middle East visit is that it doesn’t include an Israel stop.
The FT opinion piece gives us a clue as to why. The article claims that Israel is now implementing Trump’s plan to relocate Palestinians outside of Gaza but in reality even the FT can’t admit the truth and assists the West with their fake news ruse. The truth is that Netanyahu’s plan now is to simply wipe out by any means as many Palestinians as possible by the most gruesome ethnic cleansing and starvation at his disposal. What are the numbers of Palestinian children dying through malnutrition? Or those killed by the Israeli attacks? Strangely the FT is unable to help us here.
The article, which caused quite a stir on social media given that it was the first time that a western media giant pointed the finger at western elites (without being too specific) over Gaza, might be a relief mechanism for western guilt however. Indeed, while it fails to point out the events leading up to the October the 7th attacks, it does at least point out that there is an opportunity for Arab elites to stand up to Trump and tell him to restrain Netanyahu.
“Trump will put the onus on Hamas when speaking to his Gulf hosts” it reads. “The group’s murderous October 7 attack is what triggered the Israeli offensive. Gulf states agree that its continued stranglehold on Gaza is a factor prolonging the war. But they must stand up to Trump and convince him to pressure Netanyahu to end the killing, lift the siege and return to talks”.
What is interesting is how deceitful western media has become, even the revered pink pages that were once the bastion of erudite and responsible journalism. The piece does what the EU itself cannot do which is at least indicate where the moral compass should be on Israel and Palestine – even if it is part of the conspiracy to feed western readers with lies and half-truths. Even the FT has become nuance-free, remarkably. Is the FT, which has such a sycophantic relationship with the EU – the European Commission in particular – now taking the lead, on the behest of national EU member states, telling the Commission that it also needs to tighten the reins a bit on Bibi? Can the tail wag the dog in Brussels?
