Arabs Awaiting The “Second” Trump

The composition of Donald Trump’s prospective administration aligns seamlessly with the ambitions and plans of the fascist right in Israel. It offers a substantial boost to implement all their desires on the ground, as reflected in the stances and messages of nominees for key positions in the U.S. administration concerning Israel. These positions foretell no signs of good or hope for restoring matters to their rightful path, contrary to the official Arab reliance on a glimmer of hope—a glaring mirage that has unraveled the riddles and puzzles crafted by some Palestinian and Arab political opportunists who approach their causes with humiliating indifference.

The current Arab situation is far from reassuring. It lacks the minimum prerequisites for unified Arab action capable of confronting the threats deeply embedded within its structure. The disintegration of “Arab solidarity,” a formula that once emerged during a specific period but dissipated under normalization, silence over crimes, and inability to respond, raises questions about the persistent failure to grasp the context of the Zionist colonial project in Palestine. Trump’s appointees hold views concerning the Palestinian cause, aggression on Gaza, genocide, and Arabs and Muslims in general. Some share the ideology of figures like Smotrich, Ben Gvir, Meir Kahane, and Ovadia Yosef. They uphold Talmudic and Torah-inspired beliefs in Jewish racial superiority over “the Gentiles” and the dream of returning to “Judea and Samaria.”

The figures nominated to lead U.S. foreign policy under Trump, from Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, exhibit a shared harmony with the narratives of Israel’s fascist right. Among them are those advocating for demolishing Al-Aqsa Mosque to build the Temple, outright rejecting the two-state solution, and affirming Israel’s sovereignty over all Palestinian lands as part of the Jewish state, including supporting genocide in Gaza. These figures will likely be treated by the Arab world as yet another manifestation of the entrenched constants in American politics, which remain firmly aligned with Israeli agendas.

This raises the question: what vision or power remains for Arab leaders and Palestinian politicians to defend “peace” and Palestinian rights? The loss of self-reliance and the marginalization of Arab societies, compounded by the acceptance of Israel’s brutal crimes in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and beyond, reveal a persistent failure to learn from past experiences. These experiences, starkly evident in ongoing genocide and the collapse of illusions, suggest a resigned acceptance of defeat.

Amid this atmosphere, the Trump administration continues to embolden Israel with messages of encouragement. Recent statements by Israel’s Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, about preparing to impose Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank within the next year exemplify this. The groundwork for annexation is laid through settlement expansion, land confiscation, and escalating settler aggression against Palestinian cities. These actions strip away the last remnants of credibility for anyone advocating the two-state solution or so-called peace, leaving Palestinians and Arabs confronting the complete eradication of “peace,” however marginal it may have been.

Israel’s comprehensive policy of aggression and genocide in Gaza, its incursions into Lebanon, and the humiliating violation of Syrian sovereignty, met without any response from Assad’s regime, highlight the absence of Arab weight. These events signal that annexation, resettlement of Gaza, and enforced displacement are integral to a clear Zionist strategy. This strategy is not contingent on incidents like the “Al-Aqsa Flood” or the resistance to Israeli aggression in Gaza but is a natural progression of these policies. The discourse and direction of the fascist right in Netanyahu’s government regarding the West Bank suggest an impending situation even more dire than Gaza.

For Israel—its government, security institutions, and racist religious parties—the annexation of the West Bank differs significantly from Gaza. “Judea and Samaria,” with its sprawling settlements and deep integration with the territories occupied in 1948, holds a unique historical and strategic place in the Zionist mythos. Its geography and significance make it a prime target for annexation and control. Any discussion of the two-state solution, peace, or normalization is therefore wholly subject to the terms and interests of the occupation.

The Arab regime’s readiness to collaborate with a second Trump administration stems from an increasingly entrenched alignment on the Palestinian issue. The paralysis and inertia that have characterized Arab responses to Israeli aggression and genocidal crimes are perceived by both Israel and the U.S. as incentives to impose their will, irrespective of Arab condemnations and denunciations, which have become fodder for mockery even among Israeli commentators. This mockery was particularly evident after the second Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh, which became a glaring moment of Zionist ridicule toward Arab political rhetoric.

The clarity with which Israel and America commit and protect crimes—moving beyond the pretext of eliminating Hamas in Gaza to rendering it uninhabitable—coupled with their plans for the West Bank and Jerusalem, demands that Arabs and Palestinians abandon deceptive and illusory narratives. Israeli realities on the ground confirm that no one is immune from Zionist targeting.

Israel exploits the same conditions that have enabled its defiance of international law to expand its arsenal of aggression and collective punishment against the Palestinian people. Meanwhile, parts of the Arab regime, exploiting post-Arab Spring realities, have imposed broad authoritarian control over Arab societies, allowing the occupation to shed its constraints of expulsion, boycott, and prosecution in international courts. This occurs amid a chilling decline in Arab rights, freedoms, and political movements.

Finally, the lesson of self-reliance calls, first and foremost, for Palestinians to urgently rebuild their capabilities in a fundamentally different manner. Dwelling on international sympathy, tearful pleas on platforms, and cries of “protect us” must end. The Arab world, awaiting Trump’s return, is preparing to sacrifice what remains of its land, rights, and human dignity through silence and complicity in the crime.