By Prof. Junaid S. Ahmad
Donald Trump did not visit Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Doha as a statesman. He arrived as a showman, strutting across gilded halls like a casinomogul inspecting his offshore franchises. This wasn’t diplomacy. It was agrotesque circus — all photo ops and fountain pen deals, choreographed applauseand whispered treacheries — staged in palaces polished with petrodollars while Gaza is turned to ash.
The contrast could not be more obscene. Just a few hundredmiles away, children are starving in a besieged strip of land that has beenbombed into oblivion. Hospitals are reduced to rubble. Families sleep underskies filled with drones and warplanes, not stars. And while that sufferingunfolds in real time, the self-declared guardians of the Arab world — Gulfmonarchs drunk on oil money and self-preservation — roll out the red carpet forthe man who armed the butchers, applauded the bombs, and openly cheered on theethnic cleansing of Palestine.
They didn’t just smile for the cameras. They signed checks.Trillions in promised investments, pledged to the same man who greenlit bunkerbusters for Israel and grinned while Gaza burned. Saudi Arabia, whose GDPbarely hits the trillion-dollar mark, is reportedly preparing to pour nearlyall of it into the U.S. economy at Trump’s request. The UAE has already pledgedover $1.4 trillion. Qatar, not wanting to be left behind in this race to thebottom, is gifting him a $400 million private jet — a literal palace in thesky. And what, exactly, are they getting in return? Nothing. Not a ceasefire.Not a demand for Palestinian dignity. Not even a promise of restraint.
The Gulf monarchies, it must be said, are not powerless.They control the flow of oil, wield immense financial influence, and havedirect lines to every Western capital. They could use that leverage to stop theslaughter in Gaza. They could impose conditions, apply pressure, extractconcessions. But they don’t. Instead, they cower. They bribe. They pose. Not toprotect Palestine — but to protect themselves. Their thrones, their palaces,their illusions of relevance.
Because this is not about diplomacy. It’s about deference.Trump understands one language: power. That’s why he admires men like Putin andErdogan — autocrats who demand respect, not beg for approval. He mocks Arabrulers to their faces, boasts that King Salman “wouldn’t last two weeks”without U.S. protection, and they respond not with defiance, but with moremoney, more praise, more humiliating obedience. If servility were a sport, theGulf would sweep the medals.
And it’s not just policy — it’s profit. Since leavingoffice, the Trump family has transformed the Gulf into a personal goldmine. Ahotel in Dubai. A tower in Jeddah. A golf resort in Qatar. Cryptocurrencyschemes and private clubs. Jared Kushner, the princeling son-in-law, hasalready bagged $2 billion from the Saudis. The entire region has become asandbox for Trump’s business empire, lubricated by bloodshed and cheered on bykings.
What do these regimes seek in return? Immunity. Security.Not for their people — but for themselves. They fear one thing above all else:democracy. An Arab Spring redux terrifies them far more than Israeli bombs. Andso they sign unholy pacts, normalize ties with a genocidal regime, and parrotthe language of “peace” while funding its destruction. Trump offers them arms,flattery, and silence — the perfect package for monarchs who want to appearpowerful without actually doing anything that might jeopardize their grip onpower.
This isn’t partnership. It’s submission. It’s the politicalequivalent of a hostage begging for his own ransom — and paying it in gold.
Meanwhile, Israel continues its rampage. With Americanweapons and Western impunity, it has transformed Gaza into a graveyard.Hospitals are targeted with bunker busters. UN food aid has collapsed. Skeletalchildren lie blind in overcrowded wards. Mothers faint from hunger. Entireneighborhoods have been erased. And the language out of Tel Aviv grows evenmore openly genocidal: senior Israeli ministers speak casually of “removing”Gaza’s population, of forcing Palestinians into “third countries.” Ethnic cleansingis no longer whispered — it’s policy.
And what does Trump offer? Cover. Bombs. Applause. Whilethe world recoils, Arab rulers reward him. They fawn beside him in gold-platedhalls while he praises the same regime that calls for the extermination oftheir fellow Arabs. Their silence is not strategic — it’s purchased.
To be clear, Trump is not immune to pressure. Under Saudiinfluence, he backed the brutal war on Yemen, then changed course and dealtwith the Houthis. He even entertained overtures to meet Syrian leaders whenRiyadh asked. His policies can be bent. But when it comes to Gaza, the Gulfoffers not a whisper of protest. Not because they can’t — but because they won’t. Silence has become their statecraft. And in that silence, the bombsfall.
This week marks the anniversary of the Nakba — thecatastrophe of 1948 that uprooted over 700,000 Palestinians. That catastropheis being replayed today, not only by tanks and missiles, but by the complicityof Arab rulers who have decided that power matters more than principle. Thattheir own survival matters more than the survival of Palestine. That Trump’sfavor is worth more than Palestinian lives.
The world is not entirely blind. Across Europe, LatinAmerica, and Asia, there are governments refusing to play along. There arepeople protesting in the streets, risking jobs, reputations, even jail time tosay what should be obvious: genocide is not a defense strategy. But in the Arabworld’s gilded palaces, there is only cowardice. There are only bent spines andopen wallets. Humiliation mistaken for diplomacy. Self-interest draped innational flags.
So let’s be honest: this isn’t geopolitics. This is asellout. It’s disgrace wrapped in designer robes. With every gift to Trump,every smirk beside Netanyahu, every check signed as Gaza weeps, the Gulfmonarchies etch their names not into history’s ledgers of leadership, but into its margins of shame.
Because when the dust settles, when the children are buriedand the cameras move on, history will remember who armed the murderers — and who applauded them.
And it will not be kind.
Prof.Junaid S. Ahmad teaches Law, Religion, and Global Politics and is the Director of the Center for the Study of Islam and Decolonization (CSID), Islamabad, Pakistan. He is a member of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST –https://just-international.org/), Movement for Liberation from Nakba (MLN –https://nakbaliberation.com/), and Saving Humanity and Planet Earth (SHAPE– https://www.theshapeproject.com/).
18 May 2025