Netanyahu and President Trump discuss Gaza / The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
by KLZ Radio
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new critique from the conservative foreign-policy magazine The American Conservative is reopening a difficult question for the America First movement: Is the United States directing its own Middle East policy, or is its closest regional ally exercising an effective veto over Washington’s decisions?
In a column published Thursday, writer Andrew Day argues that Israeli pressure has repeatedly narrowed President Donald Trump’s options on Gaza, Iran and Saudi Arabia. The charge is deliberately provocative, and Israel’s defenders strongly dispute the premise. But the underlying dispute reaches the heart of Trump’s foreign-policy message: American alliances should advance American interests, not determine them.
Gaza Plan Changes After Israeli Objections
The latest controversy involves Trump’s U.S.-backed Board of Peace and its plan to disarm Hamas. Trump announced last week that an agreement had been reached for the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza. His announcement described Israeli withdrawals occurring as the disarmament process was completed.
After Board of Peace officials met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, however, the panel issued a statement saying Israeli forces would withdraw beyond the Yellow Line only after the decommissioning of Hamas weapons was complete. The Times of Israel reported that the revised language appeared to abandon the earlier concept of phased disarmament and phased Israeli withdrawal moving together.
As part of the process of decommissioning weapons in Gaza and enabling the transition to civilian governance, and creating a safer future in the region for both Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza, a meeting was held earlier today (Monday) between High Representative Nickolay…
— Board of Peace (@BoardOfPeace) August 3, 2026
Israel says withdrawing before Hamas is fully disarmed would expose its citizens and troops to an unacceptable threat. Israeli officials have also objected to allowing Hamas weapons to be stored rather than destroyed and to giving Qatar and Turkey roles in the verification process. Those concerns are substantial: Hamas carried out the October 7, 2023, massacre and has repeatedly used negotiations and ceasefires to preserve its military power.
But the change also illustrates the concern raised by America First critics. A plan announced by an American president appeared to change after Israel objected, potentially jeopardizing the agreement Washington had reached with Hamas through mediators.
Saudi Arabia and Iran
Day points to two other examples. A proposed American agreement to support a Saudi civilian nuclear program was subsequently made contingent on Riyadh joining the Abraham Accords and normalizing relations with Israel. Saudi leaders have resisted normalization without a credible path toward Palestinian statehood, making the added condition a potentially fatal obstacle.
Long day in Jerusalem, sitting down with Prime Minister Netanyahu and his team. This is the start of the hard phase and I have never pretended otherwise. Not much of what we do now is dramatic. It is slow, grinding and technical work. https://t.co/KQIVRkzBTE
— Nickolay E. MLADENOV (@nmladenov) August 3, 2026
The columnist also revisits the collapse of nuclear negotiations with Iran. Former Trump administration counterterrorism official Joe Kent has alleged that Israel and its American supporters pressed Washington to demand zero Iranian uranium enrichment, a condition Tehran would not accept. That account remains contested, and Israel argues that any enrichment capability could provide Iran with a route to a nuclear weapon.
The conservative disagreement is therefore not a simple choice between supporting or abandoning Israel. Israel is a valuable military and intelligence partner confronting Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. The question is whether partnership has become deference—and whether policies involving American troops, money and national risk are being decided according to American priorities.
Trump was elected in part to end open-ended foreign commitments and restore U.S. sovereignty. If an allied government can repeatedly force changes to an American president’s diplomatic agenda, America First conservatives are right to demand an explanation. Friendship with Israel does not require Washington to surrender its independent judgment.
Sources: The American Conservative, The Times of Israel.
