Politics Isn’t Always About Israel’s Interests
At this stage, it is natural for us to be guided by our perceptions and to try to interpret events positively. However, reality can sometimes be harsher, and as the saying goes: “There is none so blind as he who will not see.”
The attack on the Jewish community on the first day of Hanukkah in Australia is not an isolated incident; Jews have faced persecutions throughout history. What changes today is the way we must analyze these events and how they relate to contemporary international politics.
This article starts with this attack, but its focus is political and social. The new national security strategy of the Trump administration demonstrates that the United States does not always act out of affinity with Israel but according to its own interests. The question is: Is Israel prepared to understand and adapt to this reality, or will it continue to interpret international politics from a perspective of privilege?
This article continues from the previous one, “It’s Not Personal, It’s Politics: The Current Political Map of the Middle East Is Divided Between the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, But Where Is Israel?” (Spanish). Now, we will delve deeper into the latest events in the Middle East, exploring the regional political culture, its influence on the international context, and the points Israel may be overlooking. The aim is to show why our allies do not always seem to be on our side.
To understand this shift in the international climate, it is essential to analyze the approach of the current U.S. administration.
Donald Trump: The President with an Entrepreneurial Nature
The American president is neither a traditional politician nor a classic diplomat; Trump is a businessman, a man with a track record of economic successes and failures from which he recovered thanks to his audacity. He likely sees international politics as an investment terrain: assessing risks, maximizing gains, and minimizing costs.
During his campaign, he always put the interests of the United States first, with slogans like “Let’s Make America Great Again” or “America First.” In other words, like any president, his priority is his own country.
This continues a trend from previous administrations: both Obama and Biden sought to reduce direct U.S. involvement in the Middle East while protecting their economic interests. Trump continues this line but with a much more business-like approach: he seeks to delegate strategic presence to regional actors who can guarantee stability and security but at lower costs.
If the idea of a kind of “Middle East NATO” comes to fruition, the U.S. could maintain influence without having to invest heavily in weapons or its own resources. From this perspective, Trump no longer sees Israel........
