Al-Watan Al-Youm News – December 31, 2025
International Politics – Written by | Hassan Al-Najjar
Informed sources revealed that U.S. President Donald Trump is deliberately avoiding any public dispute with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, considering that such conflicts would not serve his political or strategic agenda in the current phase.
The Times of Israel newspaper reported on Wednesday that Trump exaggerates his praise for Netanyahu as part of a strategy aimed at keeping disagreements behind closed doors, despite frustration felt by some of his aides regarding the Israeli prime minister’s positions.
The newspaper quoted a U.S. official and a Republican source as saying that Trump believes public disputes with Netanyahu could harm his political interests, especially regarding the Gaza sector, where he seeks to announce the transition to the second phase of his peace plan in the coming weeks.
The U.S. official explained that some of Trump’s team have begun feeling that Netanyahu is delaying the implementation of the second phase of the Gaza deal, but the U.S. president has been intentionally kept away from these discussions in an attempt to preserve the path of political understandings.
The report added that the United States is seeking, after starting the first phase of the plan with a tense ceasefire agreement and a hostage exchange deal, to move to the next phase, which includes establishing governance and security mechanisms to manage Gaza after the war instead of Hamas movement. However, this transition has stalled due to Hamas’s failure to return all deceased hostages and dismantle its weapons.
The U.S. official pointed to differences between Washington and Tel Aviv, most notably the United States’ objection to some Israeli military strikes in Gaza, considering them unnecessary, in addition to the disagreement over Turkey’s role in the sector, which the U.S. administration sees as important to curb Hamas’s influence, in contrast to Israeli rejection, along with refusal to reopen the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza in both directions.
The official confirmed that the Rafah crossing issue was raised during meetings that brought together Trump and his senior aides with Netanyahu on Monday in West Palm Beach, with the U.S. administration believing that non-public pressure could push Israel to announce the full opening of the crossing in the coming days.
According to the official, Trump believes that appearing with a united front alongside Netanyahu could make him more flexible in responding to some U.S. demands, even those that might anger his partners in the far-right coalition or expose him to domestic criticism in a sensitive election year.
The Republican source also stated that Trump sees public disputes with Netanyahu as not serving the United States’ agenda in the Middle East, in addition to his keenness not to lose support from part of his Republican base that is pro-Israel.
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