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Donald Trump Promised to Bring Peace to Middle East. Here’s How It’s Going | Avi Melamed’s insights quoted in this article by by Brendan Cole Senior News Reporter for NEWSWEEK.
Former Israeli intelligence official Avi Melamed told Newsweek that Trump’s Middle East policy has generated a new dynamic in the region, reshaping relations with key Arab states while confronting three destabilizing actors—Hamas, the Houthis and the Iranian regime.
He said the common thread in Trump’s approach to these actors was a more proactive disruption of a closed and static system that had caused stagnation over the past two decades. Melamed added that Trump’s actions in the Middle East may have the potential to drive a shift toward greater regional stability.
Israel’s resumption of airstrikes on Gaza stamped the end of its ceasefire with Hamas and added to tension in the Middle East, which U.S. President Donald Trump had pledged to defuse.
Before he reentered the Oval Office in January, Trump had vowed to bring peace to the region as the war raged between Israel and Hamas that followed the Palestinian militant group’s October 7, 2023 attacks.
“Let’s get back to peace and stop killing people,” Trump said in April 2024 of the war in Gaza, which was the context behind Israel’s targeting of Hezbollah in Lebanon and broader regional tensions involving Iran and its proxies.
While Trump’s claim was always a tall order, Israel’s strikes on Gaza, the Yemeni Houthis’ response on Tuesday targeting the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier in the Red Sea, and Iran’s latest threats and violence in Syria have added to Trump’s foreign policy tests.
Why It Matters
Trump’s pledge as a broker for stability in the Middle East has collided with the reality of intractable problems in the restive region. His handling of issues involving Iran, Yemen, Israel and Syria will signal how the United States can remain an influence there during his term.
What To Know
More than 400 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s overnight airstrikes, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, as the Israeli military said it was hitting terror targets after the failure of talks to extend a ceasefire that had coincided with prisoner swaps.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of a repeated refusal to release the remaining 59 hostages taken on October 7—with up to 24 believed to be alive—as he warned Israel will act against Hamas with increasing military strength.
So far, the Trump administration’s reaction to the resumption of hostilities in Gaza has been relatively muted. However, the White House confirmed that Israeli officials had notified it about the operation. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said that Hamas chose war instead of releasing hostages to extend the ceasefire.
Gene Moran, a defense expert and former U.S. Navy Captain, told Newsweek that Trump is standing behind Israel to have them defend what they want to defend and to conduct offense the way they want to.
Emmanuel Navon, CEO of the NGO European Leadership Network-Israel (ELNET-Israel) said it was clear that the Trump and the Israeli administrations are coordinated on those military operations but the White House.
However, he told Newsweek the focus for Israelis would be how Trump acted in response to the threat posed by Iran, whose Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) this week warned the U.S. of reprisals after U.S. forces carried out airstrikes in Yemen’s capital on March 15 targeting Houthi rebels linked to Tehran.
Trump had said “hell will rain down” if the Iranian-backed group continues its attacks on Red Sea shipping and the Houthi group said Tuesday it had attacked the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier, the third such attack in 48 hours.
Former Israeli intelligence official Avi Melamed told Newsweek that Trump’s Middle East policy has generated a new dynamic in the region, reshaping relations with key Arab states while confronting three destabilizing actors—Hamas, the Houthis and the Iranian regime.
He said the common thread in Trump’s approach to these actors was a more proactive disruption of a closed and static system that had caused stagnation over the past two decades. Melamed added that Trump’s actions in the Middle East may have the potential to drive a shift toward greater regional stability.
Moran said that concerning the Houthis, Trump has executed what should have been done a year ago, given the risk they pose shipping in the Red Sea in which they targeted vessels they claim are linked to Israel, even if that is not the case.
But Moran said Trump’s plan for the Middle East was longer-term than originally promised and that “he is making things happen—we might not like the way he is doing it.”
National Iranian American Council (NIAC) president Jamal Abdi issued a statement on Tuesday about the Trump administration’s rhetoric toward Iran, the decision to bomb Houthi strongholds in Yemen and the breakdown of the ceasefire in Gaza.
Abdi said the risks of regional war are surging after Trump had helped calm regional tensions initially by investing in diplomacy early and forcing Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire deal that saw hostages freed.
Abdi said Trump’s campaign message favoring diplomacy and opposing war with Iran was disciplined. However, less than two months after taking office, Trump is “once again deeply enmeshed in the conflicts of the region, playing the very same cards that the Biden administration played and expecting a different outcome.”
Mark Shanahan, a geopolitics expert at England’s University of Surrey, told Newsweek Trump has made it clear that he has no time for the Palestinian cause and will back the Israeli state fully in its conflict with Hamas.
Shanahan said the consequence is a return to war, and Trump’s aggressive stance against the Houthis in Yemen and threats to Iran “will stoke the furnace of regional conflict further.”
On Monday, at least seven people were killed and 52 injured in clashes on the border between Lebanon and Syria, according to Beirut officials, following skirmishes over the weekend that killed three Syrian soldiers.
Earlier this month, Syria witnessed the worst violence since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad after security forces of Syria leader clashed in parts of northwestern Syria, which left hundreds dead.
However, Moran said that Trump does not appear too concerned with what happens in Syria and that he would lean toward Assad-ally Russia having its preferred outcome, which is maintaining its access to the Mediterranean via the port in Tartus.
What People Are Saying
Political analyst Oliver Alexander, on X (formerly Twitter): “Wake up this morning and see the entire Middle East on fire. Realise I must be still be dreaming because Trump ‘fixed’ the Middle East, just as he ‘fixed’ the U.S. economy and stopped the war in Ukraine in 24 hours.”
ELNET Israel CEO Emmanuel Navon told Newsweek: “Nobody in his right mind believes that [Trump] is going to deliver peace in the Middle East because this is least peaceful region in the world but the question is whether or not he means business when it comes to Iran.”
Defense expert Gene Moran told Newsweek: “Trump’s view is a little bit longer term than was once promised…he is making things happen, we might not like the way he is doing it.”
National Iranian American Council (NIAC) President Jamal Abdi, in a statement: “Not more than two months since taking office, the President finds himself once again deeply enmeshed in the conflicts of the region, playing the very same cards that the Biden administration played and expecting a different outcome.”
What Happens Next
International anger at Israel’s renewed strikes on Gaza is likely to continue amid a debate about what it means for the remaining hostages taken prisoner by Hamas.
Trump has given his backing for Israel but eyes will turn to developments in the Red Sea and what Washington might do following Houthi strikes on a U.S. vessel and warnings of reprisals from their backers in Tehran.
Donald Trump Promised to Bring Peace to Middle East. Here’s How It’s Going | Avi Melamed’s insights quoted in this article by by Brendan Cole Senior News Reporter for NEWSWEEK.
If you want to have a better understanding of the news and what really drives the unfolding events… Read the latest book of Avi Melamed,
INSIDE THE MIDDLE EAST | ENTERING A NEW ERA, available now >>>
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