Trump's pro-Israel ideologues face reality check in dealing with Gulf states

A quick glance at US President-elect Donald Trump’s appointees overseeing Middle East policy suggests that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government will soon have close ideological allies in the White House. 

From Marco Rubio as secretary of state to Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth as defence secretary, to Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel, and Steve Witkoff as Middle East envoy, the nominations are telling. Each has previously wedded himself not just to Israel but also to the extremist narratives of religious Zionism represented in the country’s current government. 

But while Rubio and Huckabee, in particular, have been pushing these narratives on the campaign trail for political reasons, all of them will now face a reality check when it comes to formulating and delivering a coherent Middle East policy. 

For one, their unequivocal support for Israel’s unhinged government policy of military annihilation of the idea of resistance will cause friction with Trump’s overarching objective to end all wars in the region. 

Netanyahu has proven time and again over the past 13 months that he favours protracted military operations without clear strategic objectives over taking diplomatic off-ramps to end hostilities - especially in the war on Gaza, where military objectives have been exhausted, billions of US taxpayer dollars have been wasted to keep Netanyahu in power, hostages have not come home, and tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians have been killed.

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