Why has the US president become cold towards Israel?
According to an article published by The Times of Israel on May 20, 2025, US President Donald Trump is "disappointed" by the war in the Gaza Strip and is demanding that the Israeli government end the war.
We will first introduce The Times of Israel's article in Uzbek, and then try to provide additional comments and conclusions.
The Times of Israel : Trump 'disappointed' by Gaza war and wants Israel to 'end it'
According to US administration officials, the US president was "disturbed" by images of children suffering in the Gaza Strip and then urged Netanyahu to open checkpoints to allow humanitarian aid.
US President Donald Trump speaks to the press after a meeting of House Republicans on the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on May 20, 2025. (TASOS KATOPODIS / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
US President Donald Trump is "appalled" by the ongoing war in Gaza, calling it the latest obstacle to prosperity in the Middle East and urging the Israeli government to "end it," White House officials were quoted as saying on Tuesday.
According to Axios, Trump has been pressuring Israel for the past two weeks to open humanitarian aid crossings that have been blocked since March.
A White House official said that Trump's "mood is upset" after seeing images of Palestinian children and infants suffering from the occupation and Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip and is "pressuring the Israelis to reopen the gates."
Israel on Monday allowed five trucks carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza to enter the enclave for the first time in 11 weeks, after the international community pressured Jerusalem to ease a worsening hunger crisis and some IDF officials warned the political leadership that Gaza was on the brink of famine.
Aid to Gaza has been blocked since March 1, 2025, while Israel insists that sufficient humanitarian aid has been flowing into the Strip during the six-week ceasefire, much of which Hamas has stolen, and that the occupation is necessary to pressure the terrorist group and release dozens of hostages they are holding.
The United Nations said on Tuesday that Israel had allowed 100 more trucks to enter Gaza, but UN officials said the scale of the crisis required more aid and that it needed to be done quickly.
Children in Gaza City sit with plastic buckets to collect water as Palestinians are evacuated, May 20, 2025. (Bashar TALIB/ AFP)
"The president is frustrated by what's happening in Gaza. He wants the war to end, the hostages to return home, aid to come in, and the rebuilding of Gaza to begin," a White House official said.
"The president sees real opportunities for peace and prosperity in the region, but the war in Gaza is the latest flashpoint and he wants it to end," the official added.
A second official told Axios that "there is a great deal of frustration with the length of this crisis," and that the secret deal to release Edan Alexander, a US-Israeli soldier who was taken hostage last week, stemmed from that sentiment.
U.S. President Donald Trump (right) welcomes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House in Washington, April 7, 2025. (AP/Evan Vucci)
However, an Israeli official told the site that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not feel pressured by Trump on this issue.
"If the president wants to reach an agreement to release the hostages and cease-fire in Gaza, he will have to put a lot of pressure on both sides," the official said.
On Monday, the White House denied reports that US officials had threatened to "abandon" Israel if it continued to defy the law.
"The president is moving as quickly as possible and working beyond what is necessary to end these conflicts between Israel and Gaza, as well as the Russia-Ukraine war. The president has made it clear to Hamas that he wants all hostages released," added White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt.
Palestinians were forced to leave their homes and tents after the Israeli army dropped leaflets ordering residents to leave the Bani Suhayla and Abasan areas, east of Khan Yunis, on May 20, 2025. (Abed Rahim Khatib/FLASH90).
Reflection
Relations with Israel have been historically close during Donald Trump's presidency (2017–2021). His administration recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, declared the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, and established diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab states through the Abraham Accords.
But after the 2020 election and as a result of events in 2023–2025, relations between Trump and Israel, and particularly Benjamin Netanyahu, have cooled.
First, let's list some of the reasons for this.
1. Netanyahu's congratulations to Biden
After the 2020 US presidential election, Benjamin Netanyahu congratulates Joe Biden on his victory. Trump takes this as a personal betrayal and accuses Netanyahu of "disloyalty." He even says, "I didn't talk to him. Damn him."
For example, John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser and one of his fiercest critics, has stated that the roots of the conflict between Netanyahu and Trump go back to the 2020 elections.
"Trump still hasn't forgiven Bibi (Netanyahu) for recognizing Biden's victory in the 2020 election. Trump thinks that's apostasy at its worst ," Bolton said.
2. The Gaza War and Trump's Criticism
During the 2023 Gaza war, Trump expressed his displeasure with Israel's actions. He issued a statement saying, "The President is dismayed by what is happening in Gaza. He wants to end the war, release the hostages, get aid, and rebuild Gaza."
3. Proposal for US control of Gaza
In early 2025, Trump proposed taking control of the Gaza Strip and turning it into a "Middle Eastern Riviera." This proposal drew sharp criticism from international organizations and human rights groups.
4. The Abraham Accords and New Allies
Trump considers the Abraham Accords a major foreign policy achievement. He has also encouraged the Syrian president to join the accords. But Israel's actions in Gaza and criticism in the region have called the truce's future into question.
Today, analysts are putting forward various theories about the frosty relations between Trump and the Israeli prime minister.
Trump places great importance on personal relationships in politics. He believes that he has done a lot for Netanyahu, but Netanyahu has not shown him loyalty. This has led to a cooling of relations.
At the same time, analyst Munayer noted that Trump now feels much freer to confront his pro-Israel donors and voters because he no longer needs to run another election campaign.
"He no longer has to conform to these interests and can pursue his agenda however he wants. It could be the interests of the American people, his personal legacy, his bank account, or all of these," Munayer says.
According to Matt Dass, executive vice president of the Center for International Policy and former foreign policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders, Trump may have realized that changing his position on Israel would not hurt him in terms of public support.
"If evangelicals are willing to vote for such a corrupt, corrupt, and despicable person as Donald Trump, they can also accept that he is not very pro-Israel," he says.
The US has begun to focus more on rivals like China and Russia in its foreign policy than on the Middle East. This is precisely the reason that has influenced the changes in relations with Israel.
Trump's famous slogan " America First" is one of the central ideas that has defined his foreign and domestic policies, and it continues to be true even after his first term as president.
The Gaza crisis began to negatively affect the US's external image during the Biden administration, and it continues to do so under Trump. The Biden administration's repeated vetoes of UN Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza have clearly demonstrated the US's growing isolation on the international stage.
Although Trump's policy of tariffs was primarily aimed at China, it actually signaled the beginning of an economic recession in the United States. However, at this time, Trump was helped by the support of his oil-dollar-rich Arab allies in the Middle East.
The gifts worth millions of dollars and deals and agreements worth trillions of dollars in investments made by the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE to Trump were, of course, a valid reason to abandon Israel, or rather Netanyahu, on which the United States spends billions of dollars every year.
In most Islamic countries, although this behavior of the leaders of the Arab countries was sharply criticized, on the other hand, it began to arouse good hopes for the future of Palestine. Because the situation in Palestine was a serious threat not only to the reputation of the United States, but also to the reputation and security of neighboring Muslim countries. Therefore, it can be said that the Arab leaders managed to persuade the United States to support the "two-state solution" project that they had been promoting for a long time. As a result, along with the United States, leading Western countries also began to change their rhetoric regarding Israel's actions in Gaza. Gradually, the largest media companies in the West began to cover the situation openly and objectively, without hiding Israel's crimes as before.
Netanyahu, on the other hand, has a vested interest in keeping the situation tense and at war for as long as possible. He first tried to move the war to Lebanon to disrupt the stability of the Gaza war due to the ceasefire, and then eliminated Hezbollah leaders to escalate the conflict. He invaded Lebanon. At the moment, there are reports that he is planning an attack on Iran under the pretext of destroying its nuclear facilities. Just as he dragged the US into the war on the false pretext that Iraq had chemical weapons, only time will tell whether he can drag Trump into it this time.
Conclusion
The thaw in relations between Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to a lack of trust in personal relationships, geopolitical changes, and regional dynamics. For Trump, political relations are based on personal loyalty, while Israel seeks to protect its strategic interests. The clash of these two paths has led to the thaw in relations.