When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met US President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on December 29, the encounter was framed in Washington and Jerusalem as a reaffirmation of strategic alignment. Across the Arab world, however, the meeting triggered a far more fragmented and contested reading, one that reflected deep regional divisions over Gaza, Iran, Turkey’s expanding role, Syria’s future, and the political calculus behind President Trump’s renewed embrace of Netanyahu.
From Doha to Riyadh, Cairo to Istanbul, and Damascus to London-based Arab platforms, coverage of the meeting revealed not a single “Arab reaction,” but a spectrum of narratives shaped by national interests, ideological alignments, and anxieties about what the American president’s return to a highly personalized, ultimatum-driven diplomacy could mean for an already volatile region.
Al Jazeera, based in Qatar, offered some of the most visible and critical framing. In an opinion column titled “Netanyahu’s Mar-a-Lago win that wasn’t,” published on December 30, analyst Ori Goldberg questioned the Israeli narrative of victory, arguing that the meeting exposed constraints rather than delivered guarantees, particularly on Gaza governance and Turkey’s role in Syria. The tone was skeptical, emphasizing costs and trade-offs rather than triumph. (Ed note: While somewhat long, this article really speaks to the Arab mind thought about what is happening in the Middle East. This thing is moving towards Psalm 83. Check out the Psalm for yourself.) (Read More)
