The most consequential meeting of the 20th Century may have been in December 1941, when British Prime Minister Winston Churchill sailed to Washington to plan the strategy for fighting and winning World War II. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s huddle with President Donald Trump might be the defining get-together of the 21st Century.
That may seem hyperbolic, but consider what this is. The two most important leaders who can shape the future of the Middle East are deciding how to get the region back on the path to peace and prosperity — cleaning up after President Joe Biden’s policies wrecked the stability of the region like a blind man driving a Ferrari on a mountain road at top speed.
Much has been said of the opposition in the governing coalition to Netanyahu moving to a ceasefire in Gaza. Some have threatened to topple his government for continuing the effort to pound Hamas into the dust after the brutal and unjustified October 7 attacks. But if Netanyahu returns with a Trump-backed plan on the way forward (and the odds are he will), what are the odds that the coalition will think they can just walk away from that and be better off?
After all, Trump is on a tear. He is immensely popular at home. He just cleaned his own back yard, scaring Panama, Venezuela, Mexico and Canada straight. Trump has sent every signal save maybe a flare gun to show he completely has Israel’s back with all the weapons support and diplomatic cover the country needs to defend itself.
Further, while all the Trump team is not on board, there are plenty of key players to help execute a proactive Middle East policy, including a gung-ho secretary of Defense, a strong secretary of State, an ace for a CIA director and a small platoon of special envoys. Trump’s Middle East team is stacked better than the lineup for the Super Bowl.
By the time Netanyahu leaves February 8, we may not know every detail of the joint U.S. -Israeli campaign, but we can guess the to-do list — much like the world saw after the FDR-Churchill Arcadia Conference (December 24, 1941, to January 14, 1942).
Trump and Netanyahu will have to settle on a pacification plan for Gaza, one that won’t include past mistakes like funneling money to UNRWA to fund the next generation of Jew killers.
Topping the list will also be putting Iran back into a box so small it will be catastrophic for the mullahs.
Also, high on the agenda is getting the Abraham Accords back on track and jumping starting important regional projects like India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
Farther down the line but also needing to be resolved are reconciling Israeli and Turkish vital interests in Syria and a practical future for Lebanon not occupied by Hezbollah.
Putting together these pieces of the Middle East puzzle will have massive implications far beyond the region. For starters, this agenda will fully marginalize China’s misanthropic efforts to muscle in as a Middle East power. Russian influence in the region will virtually evaporate. Transnational terrorism will lose another foothold. The Middle East will become an even more important strategic bridge between the transatlantic community and the Indo-Pacific.
This might all seem too daunting a list of accomplishments from one little meeting, but in December 1941, few thought a meeting between an American that just got hammered at Pearl Harbor and a Britain tottering on invasion would lead the free world to victory. History could well be repeating itself.
