At the same time, it has created opportunities for cooperation and partnerships as Trump, for example, puts pressure on other countries for trade deals, military purchases, and natural resource agreements.

Trump, again, demonstrated his unorthodox diplomatic approach this week when he welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the ‘winter White House‘, his Mar-a-Lago private club in Palm Beach, Florida.

Israel has become increasingly concerned about Trump’s relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In October, the Turkish leader proposed taking a leadership role in the international stabilization force that Trump hopes to have in Gaza following the Israel-Hamas war. Erdogan has also appealed to Trump regarding the restart of the sale of F-35 stealth fighter jets to Turkey. 

Sales were stopped in 2019 after Turkey purchased the S-400 missile system from Russia, helping preserve Israel’s military advantage in the region.

Israel’s concerns about Erdogan stem from his past support of more extreme forms of Islam, the imprisonment of political opponents, and other democratic backsliding.

“I know President Erdogan very well and, as you all know, he’s a very good friend of mine,” Trump said alongside Netanyahu this week. “I do respect him, and Bibi respects him, and they’re not going to have a problem.”

Trump’s relationship with Erdogan has also been pivotal in the shaping of U.S. foreign policy toward Syria. In June, Trump announced sanctions against Syria. Last month, he hosted Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa, a former al Qaeda jihadist who last December pushed dictator Bashar al-Assad out of power, to the White House.

Israel is similarly concerned that Sharaa continues to be inspired by Islamic extremism and reports of ethnic minority massacres within the country.

“Now with Syria, you know, your new president,” Trump said on Monday. “I respect him. He’s a very strong guy, and that’s what you need in Syria. You can’t put a choir boy. You can’t put somebody that’s a perfect person, everything’s nice, no problems in life. You have the opposite there.”

The president added: “I’m sure that Israel and him will get along. I will try and make it so that they do get along.”

During a press briefing in Tel Aviv, Israel, Gallia Lindenstrauss, a Turkey analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies, said “it feels like Turkey is closing on [Israel] from two sides” – from Gaza and Syria.

“Turkey is seen as a biased actor,” Lindenstrauss said. “Turkey is supportive of Hamas, has been very consistent in its support of Hamas since 2006, wants to see Hamas remain dominant, or at least behind the scenes in Gaza, the day after, and, hence, is not aligned with the interest of weakening Hamas and dismantling it.”

She continued: “Turkey is not doing anything to relax Israel’s anxieties on the issue. On the contrary, you see on a weekly basis, or even sometimes on a daily basis, critical remarks, and even sometimes very vicious remarks, coming out of Erdogan with regards to Israel.”

Speaking from Migdal Tefen, Israel, near the Lebanon border, Sarit Zehavi, president and founder of Alma Northern Research Center, conveyed concerns about Syria’s Sharaa to the Washington Examiner earlier this month.

During a separate briefing by Sarit Zehavi, founder and president of Alma Northern Research Center, in Migdal Tefen, Israel, near the Lebanon border, Zehavi conveyed concerns about Sharaa to the Washington Examiner.

“Who are you? Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde,” Zehavi, questioning whether he is the terrorist of the past or the man who met Trump at the White House. “He is not the guy you all think he is. The tie is just a tie. It doesn’t mean anything. He’s building an Islamist state in Syria.”

Israel is concerned, too, about Trump’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, which the president honored with the first pseudo-state dinner of his second term in November. 

During Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s trip to the White House, Trump announced the U.S. would sell F-35s to Saudi Arabia, again, undermining Israel’s military dominance.

In addition, Trump has been advocating in support of Israel and Saudi Arabia signing on to his Abraham Accords, which would normalize relations between the two countries.

Regardless, Saudi Arabia has promised not to do so until Gaza receives statehood, as Israel simultaneously expands its Jewish settlements in the West Bank, decreasing the likelihood of a two-state solution any time soon.

“Saudi Arabia is great,” Trump said Monday. “We have a great leader and friend of mine, and a friend of a lot of people, also an enemy of some people, but those people aren’t doing so well, though.”

He went on saying, “They’re getting along great with Israel. They will, and at some point they’ll sign the Abraham Accords.”

In response to a question from the Washington Examiner, MK Amit Halevi, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, expressed frustration with the West’s reaction to Israel’s concerns.

“It’s not Israel’s problem in my eyes,” Halevi said. “Today the Jews [are] paying the biggest price, and they are the first to pay the price all over the history. But it will not end with the Jews.”

In spite of Israel’s complaints, Netanyahu’s own leadership has been criticized as he contends with a corruption trial from which Trump is endeavoring to secure the prime minister a pardon.

TRUMP RISKS POPULARITY IN ISRAEL WITH NETANYAHU PARDON PUSH

“It’s very important who the prime minister and president of Israel are,” Trump said on Monday. “Bibi’s a strong man. He can be very difficult on occasion, but you need a strong man. If you had a weak man, you wouldn’t have Israel.”