As Hamas releases dual U.S.-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander—a move widely interpreted as a gesture toward U.S. President Donald Trump during his high-profile Middle East trip—questions are swirling about the administration’s true posture toward Israel.
In this episode of “Jerusalem Minute,” JNS CEO and Jerusalem bureau chief Alex Traiman and JNS Middle East correspondent Josh Hasten explore the latest developments shaping U.S.-Israel relations and the broader Middle East.
Trump is visiting Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar but not Israel, raising eyebrows and triggering speculation about potential diplomatic realignments. Meanwhile, reports suggest that a U.S.-brokered civilian nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia may move forward without Israeli involvement or normalization. As this unfolds, Israel prepares for a major new offensive in Gaza aimed at permanently removing Hamas’s military and political power, while also navigating the optics of humanitarian aid deliveries into the Strip.
Traiman and Hasten also address:
- The coordinated yet diverging strategies of Israel and the U.S. in responding to ongoing Houthi missile attacks
- Media-fueled speculation about a rift between Trump and Netanyahu, and rebuttals from both administrations
- A moving update on Israel’s daring recovery of IDF Sgt. Zvi Feldman’s remains from Syria, 43 years after he went missing
Amid rising tensions with Iran, renewed hostage diplomacy and conflicting narratives from both domestic and international media, this episode brings much-needed clarity to one of the most consequential moments in modern Israeli diplomacy.
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