WASHINGTON: It was a typically theatrical moment for the man who loves to publicly boast of being the “peacemaker-in-chief.”

Donald Trump’s top diplomat interrupted a televised meeting at the White House to hand the US president a note and whisper in his ear that a Gaza deal was imminent.

Shortly afterwards he announced the agreement on his Truth Social network. “BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!” he posted.

But while the climax played out in front of reporters, including AFP journalists in the room, most of Trump’s efforts had been behind the scenes, as he sought to pressure a reluctant Benjamin Netanyahu and win Arab support.

Pressure on Netanyahu

Seeking an unlikely Nobel Peace Prize and keen to bolster his legacy, Trump’s approach has been different to the blank cheque he has previously been regarded as giving key ally Israel.

When Trump hosted Netanyahu at the White House on September 29 to unveil his 20-point peace plan, he publicly gave the appearance of being fully behind the Israeli prime minister.

Trump said that if Hamas did not accept the plan then Israel would have his “full backing to finish the job” and destroy the Palestinian militant group.

But in private, Trump was putting on the thumbscrews.

Firstly, the plan he laid before Netanyahu and Israeli officials had already been drafted following extensive consultations with Arab and Muslim leaders at the United Nations the previous week.

When Netanyahu was confronted with it, he found there were key areas in it that he had sworn not to accept, especially on his refusal to allow a Palestinian state.

Arab unity over Qatar attack

Trump was also privately incensed by Israel’s attack on Hamas members in fellow US ally Qatar while negotiations were at a sensitive stage. He used Arab unity against the attack to get them all to agree to the plan.

He then ambushed Netanyahu, making him call Qatar’s leader from the Oval Office to apologise. Trump even sat holding the phone for Netanyahu while the Israeli leader read from a piece of paper, a photo released by the White House showed.

Politico reported that a senior Qatari official was also in the room for the call to make sure Netanyahu stayed on-script. Trump later signed an extraordinary order giving Qatar US security guarantees.

The shift also reflected the close ties that Trump has fostered with Arab states during both his presidencies.

In his first term the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco signed the Abraham Accords recognising Israel.

This time around, Trump’s first major foreign trip was to the Gulf states of Qatar, Egypt and Abu Dhabi — with no stop in Israel.

Seizing on Hamas offer

Trump piled on the pressure, giving Hamas a deadline of October 5 to make a deal or face “all hell.”

Hamas responded cunningly, playing on Trump’s well-documented pledge to win the release of all the hostages held in Gaza. Trump has repeatedly met relatives of the hostages at the White House.

Trump quickly seized it as a win.

He issued a video message and, in an unprecedented step for a US president, reposted the statement by the group that Washington has designated a terrorist organisation.

There was no mention of the fact that Hamas had not fully agreed to most of the other points in his plan.

But instead of quibbling over the details, Trump pushed Israel, Hamas and their mediators to quickly thrash out a deal.

Trump told the Axios news outlet that he had said to Netanyahu: “’Bibi, this is your chance for victory.’ He was fine with it. He’s got to be fine with it. He has no choice. With me, you got to be fine.”

• US president asks federal govt to treat antifa as terror group.
• Trump threats action against left-wing groups and donors.
• “We’re going to be very threatening to them,” says president.

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday promised “very threatening” steps against antifa and asked right-wing media allies for help identifying backers of the movement he has asked the federal government to treat as a “terrorist organisation”.

Nearly a month after the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, Trump has threatened action against left-wing groups and donors with no demonstrated ties to the killing.

The Republican president has also moved to push federal law enforcement and troops into Democrat-run cities from Chicago to Portland, Oregon, over the objections of local officials and despite ongoing judicial review.

Trump welcomed supportive media personalities to a White House event on Wednesday to discuss their experiences with what they described as a rash of violence targeting conservatives in recent years, including by antifa adherents. The event included no discussion of violence aimed at left-wing or Democrat individuals.

“They have been very threatening to people, but we’re going to be very threatening to them, far more threatening to them than they ever were with us, and that includes the people that fund them,” Trump said.

Antifa appears to be a decentralised movement lacking a unifying organisational structure or detailed ideology, according to the US Congressional Research Service, a government body.

Trump threatened to pursue antifa during his 2017–2021 term in office, and in September called it a terrorist organisation in an executive order. Since then, US law enforcement officials have not identified any antifa members or sources of funding, or laid out any related criminal charges.

Trump requested participants at the Wednesday event to name groups they say carry out violence, as well as their funders. Guests included right-wing social media personalities Jack Posobiec, Savannah Hernandez and Andy Ngo.

Trump and members of his cabinet, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who were in attendance at the event, said they would look into the groups named and solicit more information if needed.

Trump has ordered National Guard troops to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, citing threats to federal officials, following earlier deployments to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. He has also said he will send troops to Memphis.

Those orders are under an ongoing judicial review and have been opposed by Democrat mayors and governors, who say Trump’s claims of lawlessness in those cities do not reflect reality.

Trump has threatened to invoke an anti-insurrection law last invoked during the Los Angeles riots of 1992 to sidestep any court orders blocking him.

On Wednesday, Trump scolded reporters for giving insufficient coverage to left-wing violence before leaving the event “to go now to try and solve some problems in the Middle East.”

• Trump threatens to jail Chicago mayor and Illinois governor.
• National Guard troops gather outside Chicago despite opposition.
• Former FBI chief due in court to face criminal charges.
  

CHICAGO/WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for jailing Chicago’s mayor and the governor of Illinois, both Democrats, as his administration prepared to deploy military troops to the streets of the third-largest US city.

Neither Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson nor Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has been accused of criminal wrongdoing, though both have emerged as prominent opponents of Trump’s immigration crackdown and deployment of National Guard troops in Democratic-leaning cities.

Trump’s call to imprison the two elected officials comes as another high-profile political rival, former FBI Director James Comey, was due to appear in court to face criminal charges that have been widely criticised as flimsy.

Trump has frequently called for jailing his opponents since he first entered politics in 2015, but Comey is the first to face prosecution.

On his social media platform, Trump accused Johnson and Pritzker of failing to protect immigration officers who have been operating in Chicago.

“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!” Trump wrote, referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel.

Johnson signed an executive order on Monday creating an “ICE Free Zone” that prohibits federal immigration agents from using city property in their operations.

“This is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested. I’m not going anywhere,” he said on social media.

Pritzker, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, likewise said he would not back down. “Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power. What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?”

Trump has vowed to harness the power of the federal government to target his enemies. Aside from Comey, his Justice Department is investigating several other high-profile critics. All have denied wrongdoing, and Comey is expected to plead not guilty to charges of lying to Congress.

Meanwhile, a federal judge ruled that ICE had violated a 2022 agreement that limits the agency’s ability in several Midwestern states to arrest immigrants without a warrant, in an opinion that could limit some of the aggressive tactics adopted by ICE since Trump returned to office.

US District Judge Jeffrey Cummings said the agency had wrongly declared the agreement was cancelled, and extended it until February.

Troops to Chicago

Hundreds of Texas National Guard soldiers have gathered at an Army facility outside Chicago, over the objections of Pritzker, Johnson and other Democratic leaders in the state. Trump has threatened to deploy troops to more US cities, which he said last week could serve as “training grounds” for the armed forces.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday found that most Americans oppose the deployment of troops without an external threat.

Trump has ordered Guard troops to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, following his earlier deployments to Los Angeles and Washington, DC. In each case, he has defied staunch opposition from Democratic mayors and governors, who say Trump’s claims of lawlessness and violence do not reflect reality. He has also said he will send troops to Memphis.

“My goal is very simple. STOP CRIME IN AMERICA!” he wrote on his social media platform.

Violent crime has been falling in many US cities since a Covid-era spike, and National Guard troops have so far been largely used to protect federal facilities, not fight street crime.

Protests over Trump’s immigration policies in Chicago and Portland had been largely peaceful and limited in size, according to local officials, far from the conditions described by Trump administration officials.

At an immigration facility in Broadview, Illinois, outside Chicago, four demonstrators held signs and chanted slogans on Wednesday in front of a wall of heavily armed officers. The administration has said National Guard troops could be sent to guard the facility, but none had arrived by early afternoon.

Pritzker has accused Trump of trying to foment violence to justify further militarisation, and his state has sued to stop the deployment. A federal judge on Monday permitted the deployment to proceed for the time being. Another federal judge has blocked the deployment to Portland.

Trump has threatened to invoke an anti-insurrection law to sidestep any court orders blocking him, which was last invoked during the Los Angeles riots of 1992.