The Trump plan can still work – but only if the US abandons its ideological blinders and recognizes that Qatar and Turkey are exploiting American goodwill to rescue Hamas from defeat.
The Gaza plan championed by the Trump administration is on the verge of being hijacked – not by Israel, but by the very states that have spent years arming, financing, and glorifying Hamas. At the Doha Forum, Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey dispensed with diplomatic subtleties and openly demanded changes that would render the entire plan meaningless. Their proposed “revisions” would force an Israeli withdrawal before Hamas disarms, insert an international force that refuses to confront Hamas, and hard-wire Hamas’s continued rule into the future of Gaza.
The astonishing part is not that Qatar and Turkey are attempting this maneuver – it is that Washington is allowing it. The US is ignoring the plainly anti-Western ideological motives of its supposed partners, and in doing so, it is sleepwalking into a strategic catastrophe.
The speeches delivered in Doha could not have been more transparent. Qatar’s prime minister announced that mediators must “force the next phase” of the plan and insisted a ceasefire “cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of the Israeli forces.” Egypt’s foreign minister echoed the line, accusing Israel of breaking the ceasefire and demanding that an International Stabilization Force deploy immediately – not to restrain Hamas, but to restrain Israel. Both stressed that the ISF should deploy on the Israeli side of the “yellow line.”N
Meanwhile, Turkey declared that the transition to a Gaza governance system must precede Hamas disarmament. Hamas, never one to miss the joke, reiterated that it will only give up its weapons to a new Palestinian government. In other words, they would give their weapons to themselves, and pretend they aren’t Hamas anymore.
Washington’s strategic failure
What these leaders are proposing is not a small modification. It is a total inversion of the 20-point plan Israel actually signed. The deal’s sequencing is explicit: Hamas is removed and disarmed first; stability is established second. Once these steps have been carried out, the ISF enters the Strip, and Israel gradually withdraws its forces “based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarization.” Doha now wants the opposite: withdrawal first, international force second, and Hamas disarmament… never.
Why would the United States indulge this farce? Why pretend that these governments are acting in good faith?
This is where Washington’s strategic failure becomes glaring. For years, American policymakers have clung to the fantasy that Qatar and Turkey are “moderating influences,” countries that can rein in extremist groups. This is willful blindness. Qatar and Turkey do not moderate extremists – they sponsor them. They do not want a stable, demilitarized Gaza – they want a Gaza in which the Muslim Brotherhood retains its foothold.
This ideological reality is not hidden. Qatar shelters Hamas leadership, glorifies Hamas on Al Jazeera, and bankrolls Muslim Brotherhood movements across the region. Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, praises Hamas as “freedom fighters,” calls for Israel’s destruction, and funnels support to Brotherhood-aligned groups everywhere. Both regimes view the Muslim Brotherhood not as a threat but as the engine of their regional vision.
And yet, American policymakers continue to treat them as if they were the UAE or Saudi Arabia – responsible actors who seek a more moderate Islam that cooperates with Western interests.
This is not naivete: It is negligence.
The consequences
The consequences are unfolding in real time. While Jordan, Pakistan, and Indonesia are backing away from participating in the ISF, Turkey is lobbying aggressively to insert its military into Gaza. This is not out of altruism or a desire to secure peace. Ankara wants a permanent presence on Israel’s southern border for the same reason it seized influence over Israel’s northern border through its Syrian proxy, Ahmed Al-Sharaa: regional hegemony. A Turkish-led ISF in Gaza would give Turkey long-term strategic leverage over Israel – and an opportunity, down the road, to empower Hamas under the veneer of international legitimacy.
Meanwhile, Qatar is working around the clock to push the process into “the next stage” before Hamas is disarmed – because a premature transition is precisely what guarantees Hamas’s survival. Qatar knows perfectly well that once an international force is positioned between Israel and Hamas-controlled territory, Israeli military action will become all but impossible. Hamas would emerge battered but unbroken, shielded by foreign troops and diplomatic pressure, ready to rebuild under the watchful eyes of its patrons in Doha and Ankara.
And yet, Washington still refuses to say the obvious: Qatar and Turkey are not partners in security – they are partners in Hamas’s survival.
This is why the upcoming Netanyahu–Trump meeting is so critical. Turkey is counting on President Donald Trump to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into allowing Turkish troops into Gaza. Netanyahu has already said flatly that “there will be no Turkish troops deployed in Gaza.” He must hold that line with absolute firmness. Allowing Turkish participation in the ISF would be a strategic calamity of generational proportions.
Qatar and Turkey must not be allowed to dictate terms
If the Trump administration truly wants its Gaza plan to succeed, it must stop allowing Qatar and Turkey to dictate the terms. Instead, it should turn to the regional actors who genuinely oppose the Muslim Brotherhood and genuinely seek stability: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and others who have repeatedly designated the Brotherhood – and by extension Hamas – as terrorists. These are the states that genuinely seek a less radicalized, more pro-Western Middle East.
The Trump plan can still work – but only if the US abandons its ideological blinders and recognizes that Qatar and Turkey are exploiting American goodwill to rescue Hamas from defeat. Hamas must be disarmed and removed from governing power before any transition begins, the ISF must exclude Turkey entirely, and the United States must stop pretending that the Muslim Brotherhood’s state sponsors are guardians of regional stability.
Failure to do so will leave Hamas alive, entrenched, and internationally protected – and the Saudis and Emiratis alienated, with American and Israeli security suffering in the long and short terms.
The writer is the executive director of Israel365 Action and cohost of the Shoulder to Shoulder podcast.
This article was originally published on Jpost.com
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Israel365.
