Trump outsources U.S. foreign policy to Israel By The Wayne Madsen Report

Trump outsources U.S. foreign policy to Israel

By The Wayne Madsen Report

The signs that Donald Trump planned to allow Israel to largely call the shots on U.S. foreign policy have been evident since he named ultra-Zionist New York bankruptcy attorney David Friedman, formerly with the Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman law firm, as his ambassador to Israel and son-in-law Jared Kushner as his "special advisor on Middle East peace." Israel's control over Trump's foreign policy, especially on Middle East issues, has manifested itself in several ways.

Friedman altered long-standing U.S. Middle Eastern policy by stating to an Israeli audience that "they [the Israelis] are only occupying 2 percent of the West Bank," adding that, “settlements there are part of the Jewish state proper." Since invading the West Bank in 1967, Israel has taken over 42 percent of Palestinian land, a violation of 27 United Nations Security Council resolutions. Although Trump vowed to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the mere call for such action is a violation of UN General Assembly resolution 181, which calls for Jerusalem to be a "corpus separatum," an international city governed under the auspices of the UN. Israel cites ancient mythological Jewish texts, not recognizable under international law, as the basis for its occupation of east Jerusalem and West Bank territories.

In a span of two days, Trump carried out two act that were not in America’s interest but had been pushed by Netanyahu. These were the withdrawal of the United States from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), because Trump viewed it as overly anti-Israeli, and Trump’s official decertification of the P5+1’s (United States, United Kingdom, Russia, France, China, and Germany) Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program. Netanyahu was brimming with joy at the decertification of the JCPOA and followed Trump's action on UNESCO by withdrawing Israel from the organization.

On a visit to Ramallah in May, Trump reportedly screamed at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting attended by U.S. and Palestinian officials. Trump accused Abbas of lying to him during a previous meeting at the White House. Trump yelled at Abbas, "You tricked me in DC! You talked there about your commitment to peace, but the Israelis showed me your involvement in incitement [against Israel]." The Israelis know they have Trump in their hip pocket. Trump's support for the Saudi-led sanctions against Qatar were not only supported by Israel but the entire underpinning for the sanctions -- a false Qatar News Agency report of Qatar's emir criticizing the Saudis to the Iranians -- was fabricated in a hacking operation of the agency's computer network in Doha. The hacking of the news agency and placement of a fake news story was designed by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi --  an Israeli lackey and business partner of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos's brother, Blackwater founder Erik Prince -- and the Israeli influence-peddling organization in Washington, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

Several of Trump's foreign-born business partners and real estate investors who are now being scrutinized by Justice Department counsel Robert Mueller are active in criminal syndicates in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, and Poland. These business partners are also strong promoters of Israel and lead several Zionist organizations in Russia, Ukraine, Israel, and central Asia. One of these partners, Beny Steinmetz, the Israeli diamond, mining, and real estate magnate, is under criminal indictment in Israel for money laundering and bribery.

Among Trump's top political campaign donors are such Zionist supporters of Israel as casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson, who backs Netanyahu's government, and Paul Singer, the Wall Street hedge fund vulture who preys on faltering economies like those of Puerto Rico, Argentina, and countries in Africa.

Encouraging Trump's rabidly pro-Zionist and pro-Israel agenda is, ironically, the alt-right. The person who coined the alt-right phrase, neo-Nazi leader Richard Spencer, considers himself a "white Zionist," even though he uses Nazi-like "Heil Trump" salutes at his white supremacist gatherings. Spencer's longtime friend, Stephen Miller, an outspoken Jewish Zionist, ensures that Trump uses white nationalist "dog whistle" phrases and jargon in his speeches. Former Trump adviser Stephen Bannon, who has returned to Breitbart News, is also known to support Zionist causes even though his ex-wife said he didn't want their children going to certain schools because there were too many Jewish students in attendance.

Netanyahu is more than comfortable with Trump's ties to neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups. The Israeli Prime Minister refrained from criticizing Trump's comment that there were "fine people" marching in the neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan parade in Charlottesville, Virginia. Netanyahu has made common cause with various far-right and formerly neo-Nazi political parties in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Poland. Netanyahu has actually broken with Jewish groups that have publicly condemned the events in Charlottesville and Spencer's organization.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is known to be fuming over the ardently pro-Israeli activities of Kushner, Friedman, and U.S. ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley. Although Friedman and Haley report to Tillerson, both diplomats appear to have another chain-of-command, one that leads directly to Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump, a convert to Orthodox Judaism, in the West Wing.