Israel notably absent from Trump’s Middle East itinerarypublished at 08:44 British Summer Time

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the first foreign leader to visit Donald Trump after he returned to the White House earlier this year. Now Trump is in the Middle East for his first major foreign trip, but his itinerary notably does not include Israel.

Israeli officials had reportedly privately lobbied the Trump administration to add their nation to his itinerary – efforts that proved to be in vain.

While US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee asserted on Saturday that US-Israeli relations remain strong, the snub, along with recent US diplomatic efforts, suggests that American priorities in the region may be diverting from its longtime ally.

Monday’s release of Israeli American hostage Edan Alexander was the result of direct US-Hamas talks that bypassed Israel. Other US moves, including negotiating a ceasefire with the Houthi rebels in Yemen that didn’t include Israeli targets and opening direct talks with Iran over the nation’s nuclear programme, have also surprised Israeli officials.

Trump’s second term began with reports of his personal negotiator, Steve Witkoff, berating Netanyahu over his reluctance to agree to a Gaza prisoner-hostage exchange and a temporary ceasefire.

And despite a second visit by Netanyahu to the White House for trade negotiations in April, the two nations have yet to ink a deal.

On this trip, economic issues – rather than diplomatic or security concerns – are atop Trump’s priority list. And by that metric, the Arab nations, with their vast concentrations of wealth, have a decided advantage over Israel, no matter how many times Netanyahu stops by the Oval Office.

Israel may be left hoping that at some point soon, American interests will shift.