By Husam Dughman
Newcomers to Canada go through various stages as they try to grapple with the realities of the new country. The first is the honeymoon stage where they are excited to be in Canada and feel a tremendous deal of enthusiasm. The second is one of disillusion, frustration, and anger when newcomers realize that Canada and its job prospects are not what they had expected; they find themselves either jobless or working in minimum-wage survival jobs in spite of having university degrees and extensive professional experiences in their countries of origin. The third is the recovery stage where they feel able to achieve certain significant things, but not all that they had in mind when they first came to Canada. The fourth and last stage is one of adaptation where newcomers try their best to create harmony between themselves and Canada.
Israel’s current relationship with US President Donald Trump may well follow those above-mentioned newcomer stages. When Trump first came to power this time around in January 2025, the Israelis felt a tremendous level of euphoria after years of bitter struggles with the former US President Joe Biden’s administration, especially over the Gaza war and Iran. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went so far as to describe Trump as “the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House.” To be sure, Trump seemed to be on the same page as Israel with regard to Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, Syria, and Iran. He made life easy for the Israelis in terms of the procurement of weapons and the enjoyment of massive US political and military support. That was the equivalent of the newcomers’ honeymoon stage.
Nevertheless, Israel now appears to be entering the second stage that newcomers to Canada experience. It is beginning to doubt that Trump is as much of an ally of Israel as it was first thought. That confusion is not unwarranted. Trump has recently taken a number of steps which seem to give the impression that he is distancing himself a bit from the Israelis: He has solely negotiated the release of the Israeli-American Hamas hostage, Edan Alexander; he has been negotiating directly with Iran for a deal on its nuclear project, without Israel’s participation; he has concluded a deal with the Houthis to stop US military attacks on them in return for their not targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea, despite their declaration that they would continue to attack Israel as long as the Gaza war continued; he has lifted sanctions on Syria and met with the former al-Qaeda and Islamic State group affiliate member, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and even invited him to join the Abraham Accords; and he has now secured breathtaking financial deals with the Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE declaring their intention of investing huge sums into the US economy which amount to around $2 trillion. Qatar even gave him a luxury aircraft gift.
Israel has so far maintained a diplomatic silence in respect of Trump’s transactional adventures. The Israelis are now gradually beginning to realize that even though Trump is far from being hostile- or even indifferent- to their survival and welfare, he may not be exactly how Israel’s current leadership in particular had expected. The Israelis are wise and pragmatic enough to understand that Trump’s loyalty is first and foremost to his country. They now understand that, yes, the US, especially under Trump, will always be their ally, but that they also will have to fend for themselves more often and for longer periods of time than what they might have anticipated previously. Still, no harm is done if one is to reflect more deeply on this matter. Israel is more than capable of tackling the Houthis. It is now in virtual control of Gaza. Hezbollah has been seriously degraded. So has Iran. Syria is not currently in a position to threaten Israel, especially following Israel’s extensive aerial attacks towards the end of last year on that country’s extensive arsenal of weaponry and military research centres. Israel’s awareness of those factors put it in the third stage of newcomers’ experiences in Canada
Examined from a slightly different perspective, what Donald Trump has been doing may actually be beneficial to the Jewish state. While he is offering to make a deal with Iran, he did say in his address to the Gulf states on his latest visit that Iran could not be allowed to have nuclear weapons. He is in all likelihood pursuing a carrot (the US) and stick (Israel) policy. He also said Hamas and other similar terrorist organizations could not continue to hold hostages or wreak havoc on innocent civilians. His friendly approach towards Syria seems to be designed primarily to deprive Iran of an ally that is situated very closely to Israel. His invitation to Syria to join the Abraham Accords, if successful, could very well be a gem for the Israelis. Last, but not least, Trump’s overt friendliness towards the Gulf states may be intended not only to win lucrative commitments involving astronomical sums of money and successfully vie with the Chinese for closer relations with those rich countries; it appears that Trump is doing his best to woo as many countries as possible to join the Abraham Accords, especially Saudi Arabia whose closer relations with Israel prior to the October the 7th 2023 massacre are perceived to have been the reason why Iran encouraged Hamas to commit its atrocities on that day in order to completely scuttle Israeli-Saudi normalization.
In spite of all appearances to the contrary, Trump’s marginal distancing of himself from Israel for the time being may very well work to Israel’s advantage in the long run. His most recent moves and tactics may be seen by Israel’s enemies as an indication that Trump is after all not a putty in Israel’s hands. That impression in itself is quite likely to induce numerous actors in the Middle East to warm up to the US president and be more amenable to the fulfillment of his wishes and hopes, some of which are indisputably beneficial to the Jewish nation. That is when the Israelis will enter the fourth and final stage that newcomers to Canada go through, as outlined at the beginning of this article: They will adapt by doing their utmost in order to achieve harmony between their needs and expectations and those of Trump’s USA. All good things come to those who wait.
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About the author
Husam Dughman is a Libyan Canadian political scientist, religious thinker, linguist, and an expert on immigrants and refugees. He received his formal education in Libya and the UK. Mr. Dughman later worked as a university professor of political science in Libya. Due to confrontations with the Qaddafi regime, he resigned from his university position and subsequently worked in legal translation. Mr. Dughman has been working with new immigrant and refugee services in both Canada and the US since 2006.
Husam Dughman has published a book entitled Tête-à-tête with Muhammad. He has also written numerous articles on politics and religion. He has just completed the full manuscript of a book which he hopes to have published in the near future. The new book is an in-depth examination of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and the non-religious school of thought.
