The murder of right-wing "influencer" Charlie Kirk was a blow to the US political system at a time Washinton's global influence has waned. A home front preoccupied by division and anger is certain to make it even more difficult for the US to end Israel's war on Gaza and halt Israel’s attacks on regional capitals.

 

Instead of urging to heal its wounds and unite under an "All American administration." Donald Trump has chosen to exploit differences between competing camps. Trump's confrontional style, his refusal to acknowledge he lost the 2020 election; the January 6th, 2021, attacks on the Capitol by his supporters; and his decision to grant pardons to some who have been jailed has fanned deep divisions and widespread friction. Political discourse has become vitriolic and violent. During the first half of this year, the US suffered 150 political attacks, almost twice the 2024 number, University of Maryland researcher Mike Jensen reported. He warned of widespread political unrest which could lead to further attacks.

 

Traditional political affiliations have morphed into bitter rival camps which pit communities and individuals against each other. Social media and conspiracy theorists have magnified anger and frustration. Trump himself was the target of an assassin who clipped his ear with a bullet and a shooter caught on the edge of golf links where he was playing. Nevertheless , he has cut funding to security services dealing with domestic terrorism and given priority to immigration enforcement and halting migrant crossings across the US southern border with Mexico.

 

On the foreign policy front, his verbal gymnastics and trade tariffs have exacerbated uncertainty and undermined traditional world-wide politico-economic connections. This region is seething. Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu carries on with his war on Gaza which has killed 64,000 Palestinians, displaced 90 per cent of 2.3 million Gazans and devastated the strip. He also has continued to block humanitarian aid for Gazans. As a result, famine has been declared in parts of Gaza and there is widespread malnutrition. There are daily deaths of children, the elderly, and once healthy adults from starvation. Centres providing treatment for starvation and giving nutritional support have been forced to relocate when Israel orders evacuations while remedies are in short supply due to Israel's blockade.

 

Since the raid on Israel by Hamas on October 7th, 2023, Netanyahu has also ordered attacks on Qatar, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran while prosecuting his all-out war on Gaza. Trump did not take kindly to last week's Israeli strike on Hamas in Qatar, but he has adopted no steps to punish Israel for striking Qatar which is a non-NATO US ally. According to Al-Akhbar daily, the strike was a carefully deliberated move which awaited US toleration if not full endorsement. Trump was briefed in advance but did not inform Doha ahead of the attack and did not intervene to prevent it. Al-Akbar said that the strike was meant to warn mediators there will no peace without Palestinian capitulation to Israel’s demands.

 

Israel’s strike on Doha coincided with the plan by Western powers Britain, France, Canada, Malta and Australia to recognise the state of Palestine during the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly. This will boost the current number of states recognising Palestine to from 147 of the 193 member states. While recognition accords Palestine status it does not bode changes in Israel’s occupation policies of suppression, confiscation of land, approval of settler attacks, and practice of discrimination under an apartheid system.

 

Trump also did nothing to curb Netanyahu's June war on US antagonist Iran. Instead, at the end of this war, Trump bombed three of Iran's uranium enrichment sites and claimed he had put them out of action for good. Nuclear experts argued that this could be true for a few months.

 

Aware that they cannot count on mercurial Trump to force Israel to exercise restraint, the Arabs have been compelled to reconsider the parlous regional situation. Ahead of Monday’s Arab and Islamic emergency summit in Doha, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani called for the creation of an Islamic political, economic and military alliance to counter Israeli actions in Gaza and Qatar. He warned that Israeli "aggression will not stop at Qatar," and said that the Muslim world has "numerous levers" that could be employed to deter Israel. However, the West is not listening. It is significant that the US Security Council did not mention Israel when condemning the strike on Qatar.

 

While the summit was filled with condemnations of Israel there was no commitment to specific actions to be taken by the 57-member nations as a whole. Each is left to act on its own.