I don't know if most people realize the overall quality of foreign policy reporting in American media is generally pretty horrible. Part of this is because structurally under capitalism for profit media tends to align with US imperial objectives at the expense of the truth, part of it is that reading audiences aren't diplomacy wonks so the complex details of international relationships have to be shoehorned into some form of narrative, and part of it is that most state level negotiations are conducted in secret so you can print pretty much any bullshit you want and call it "reading the tea leaves" because nobody is going to hold you to account for being wrong later. Which isn't to say it's impossible to do good foreign policy reporting, just that it usually involves interrogating primary sources who aren't going to want to talk to you if you're critical of their decisions and (often false) arguments. In a modern, eviscerated media age that places profit and cultural relevance much higher than journalistic accuracy in their hierarchy of priorities, pretty much every corporate media news outlet employs at least one name-brand foreign policy analyst who writes opinion columns based on vibes.
I mention this because over the past week I've read at least a dozen "front page" opinion pieces, primarily from "centrist" analysts, arguing that Trump's recent MENA mutual hand-job tour indicates that Downmarket Mussolini has "abandoned" Israel, or at least "put Benjamin Netanyahu on notice." Typically, the evidence to support this conclusion will revolve around Trump's cozy relationship with Qatar, sealed by an open bribe in the form of a $400M dollar luxury jet, and the fact that Der Leader's top diplomat Steve Witkoff negotiated with Hamas to secure the release of U.S. citizen and Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, apparently without consulting Israel. The implication, which is sometimes even stated openly, is that this "deteriorating" relationship and one throwaway statement about starving Palestinians, means the Trump regime may be about to break with Israel's US-backed genocide in Gaza.
This is of course, absolute bullshit for one extremely obvious reason; namely that the Trump administration continues to openly greenlight Israel's genocide in Gaza. This is not supposition; between Trump's statements, the US government's actions, and the Netanyahu regime's responses it is abundantly clear that the project to ethnically cleanse Gaza and turn it into riverfront property is still on, and Der Leader is happy to trade tacit US approval for the genocide or removal of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel, to simply smooth over a MENA foreign policy initiative designed to increase Trump's global influence while enriching him and his family.
To demonstrate why I know this let's look at this detailed report by Jeremy Scahill who actually *did* contact a source for his foreign policy analysis; specifically a senior Hamas official.
dropsitenews.com/p/witkoff-ham…
Hamas Says Witkoff Personally Promised to Lift Gaza Blockade in Exchange for Edan Alexander
“It was a deal,” said Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau who has previously engaged in direct talks with U.S. officials. He said the pledge was made by “Witkoff, himself.” In an interview with Drop Site, Naim said the agreement was: “If we release [Alexander], Trump will speak out thanking Hamas for its gesture, obliging Israel on the second day to open the borders and allow aid to come into Gaza, and [Trump would] call for an immediate ceasefire and to go for negotiations to end the war.”
“He did nothing of this,” Naim added. “They didn't violate the deal. They threw it in the trash.”
This is a detailed, granular piece of journalism that explores the genocidal behavior Israel is engaging in as it attempts to starve Palestinians to death while continually bombing hospitals and refugee camps, as well as why the things Trump claims he's actually doing to mitigate engineered starvation in Gaza are mostly bullshit. What's important for our purposes here is the knowledge that the Trump regime pretty much just straight up lied to Hamas in order to secure the release of Edan Alexander and some flattery for Der Leader, and the reality that both Israeli leadership and the President are *still* openly talking about ethnically cleansing Gaza!
Look, I have no problem believing that Netanyahu is irked at Trump for his embarrassing love affair with the Qataris, but the idea that the Klepto Kaiser is "abandoning" Israel even as his regime continues to ship Israel billions of dollars in weapons while mapping out a post-Palestinian future for Gaza, is either embarrassingly naïve, or an open admission that Palestinian lives have so little value to you that their extermination or exile doesn't rise to the level of discussion. In this media environment, it could be both.
#Trump #Fascism #Gaza #Israel #Genocide #Netanyahu #Qatar #ForeignPolicy #WarCrimes #EthnicCleansing #Media #Hamas
Hamas Says Witkoff Personally Promised to Lift Gaza Blockade in Exchange for Edan Alexander
The U.S. immediately broke the deal, senior Hamas official Basem Naim tells Drop Site. “They threw it in the trash” and there has been “zero” progress on a Gaza ceasefire.Jeremy Scahill (Drop Site News)
