Can Trump Contain Israel’s Hard Right?

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2025/10/trump-israel-settler-right/684627/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_content=edit-promo

Posted by theatlantic

8 comments

  1. Yair Rosenberg: “When Donald Trump arrived in Israel last week to celebrate his Gaza agreement, Israelis of all stripes fell over themselves to thank him for his efforts to end the war and bring hostages home  … But one notable person didn’t join the festivities. In fact, she boycotted them.

    “The day before, Limor Son Har-Melech, a far-right member of Parliament, had declared that she was ‘not interested in joining the applause’ and announced that she would not attend the president’s Knesset speech. ‘President Trump presented the current deal as a peace agreement,’ she wrote. ‘It is not. It is a shameful agreement.’ Har-Melech’s outrage was sharp but not surprising. Since October 7, 2023, she had been one of the chief advocates for the Israeli resettlement of Gaza. Just two months after the Hamas massacre, she said she told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that ‘the only image of victory in this war is that we will see Jewish homes in Gaza. Victory will be when we see the children of Israel playing in the streets of Gaza.’

    “Polls showed that most Israelis opposed this land-grabbing plan. But Netanyahu was beholden for his political future to the radical minority that supported it, and constantly catered to their whims. As the war in Gaza dragged on, and Israel plunged deeper into the Palestinian territory, the settler right appeared poised to obtain its prize. Trump called to ‘clean out’ Gaza and relocate its population to make way for a ‘Riviera of the Middle East.’ Nearly two dozen lawmakers in Netanyahu’s coalition signed a letter to Israel’s defense minister urging him to permit activists into Gaza itself to scout possible settlement locations.

    “The pieces were falling into place. That is, until Trump halted the war and imposed a peace plan that explicitly rejected any Israeli territorial designs on Gaza.

    “It wasn’t supposed to go this way. When Trump was reelected, members of the Israeli right rejoiced, believing that he would happily facilitate their aspirations. Instead, he has begun to frustrate them.

    “… But although Trump may have momentarily stuffed the far right into a locker, it will slink out as soon as he turns his attention elsewhere … Trump’s Gaza plan presents many such openings. According to the agreement, in the early stages of the current deal, Israel will remain in control of much of Gaza’s uninhabited territory until Hamas is disarmed and displaced. These are precisely the areas that the far right hopes to settle and even annex to Israel. Hamas is dragging its feet on releasing the bodies of dead Israeli hostages, publicly executing Palestinians opposed to its rule, and showing no sign that it intends to give up its weapons. The Israeli army and Hamas are still skirmishing along the cease-fire line. Even if none of this is enough to capsize the accord, it will likely delay further implementation and provide a window for the settlers and their political allies to try to insinuate themselves into those parts of Gaza.

    “Only Trump can stop this from happening—at least until Israel holds new elections next year that could boot Netanyahu and his partners from power. The president can pressure Hamas’s patrons in Qatar and Turkey to compel the group to disarm, and he can strong-arm Netanyahu into preventing settler spoilers from upending the fragile peace. What Netanyahu wants is not this peace deal or avaricious annexations, but to stay in power. And he will make whatever choice seems most likely to keep him there.”

    Read more: [https://theatln.tc/wsrAy5AX](https://theatln.tc/wsrAy5AX) 

  2. Trump is responsible for empowering them, what a rediculous question

  3. I do not believe he has a handle on any war currently happening. He talks a big game on social media, but bombs are still dropping, people are still dying, and solutions are not coming to fruition.

    Trumps inability to govern is his downfall. His tough guy act can only carry you so far, as threatening people doesn’t typically solve problems. This will require real governance, cooperation, and a win win for all those involved.

    As an American I can say, he doesn’t really succeed, he forces things, claims victory, and watches his efforts fall apart. The worst part, he then blames someone else, regurgitates his one tactic, threats, and starts the process from the top.

    He is revenge focused, not solution oriented.

  4. Since he absolutely can, the question is whether he wants to do it or not.

  5. Trump is the only American President capable of shutting down the Israeli right. Any other president would be incapable.

  6. Trump does not “contain” the far right, he prefers to empower it.

  7. Israel’s very hard right is contained. Are they annexing Gaza? All the pro terrorists here insisted that Israel wanted to take Gaza. They’re not. It seems after all Israel only wanted Hamas to stop launching thousands of rockets at Israeli citizens. I wouldn’t worry about Israel’s hard right. The question is should we care that Hamas is shooting the brains out of fellow Palestinians in the streets? Should we care that Hamas is smashing kneecaps of fellow Palestinians with a hammer?

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