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As Trump family’s Gulf empire grows, rulers seek influence, arms, tech

Ahead of US President Donald Trump’s Gulf visit next week, his son Eric was promoting his crypto firm in Dubai, while Don Jr prepared to talk about “Monetising MAGA” in Doha.Last month, the Trump Organization struck its first luxury real estate deal in Qatar, and released details of a billion-dollar skyscraper in Dubai whose apartments can be bought in cryptocurrency.In a monarchical region awash with petrodollars, the list of Trump-related ventures is long and growing. However, the presidential entourage is not the only party cashing in, analysts say.”Gulf governments likely see the presence of the Trump brand in their countries as a way to generate goodwill with the new administration,” said Robert Mogielnicki of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.If the president chose, he could hopscotch the region from one Trump venture to another when he visits Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week on the first foreign tour of his second term.Asked whether Trump would make visits or meetings linked to his own business interests or that of his family, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was “ridiculous” to “even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit” and that he had “lost money for being president”.But from Dubai’s Trump International golf course, to a high-rise apartment block in Jeddah and a $4-billion golf and real estate project on Omani state-owned land, business links are not hard to find in the desert autocracies.At the Dubai crypto conference in April, Eric Trump and Zach Witkoff — the son of Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve — announced that Emirati fund MGX would use USD1, a cryptocurrency developed by their firm, to invest $2 billion in Binance, a crypto exchange.- Political influence -The original title of Donald Trump Junior’s talk at this month’s Qatar Economic Forum, “Monetising MAGA: investing in Trump’s America” was later changed to the more neutral “Investing in America”, cached versions show.Among such investments is the $2 billion that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund reportedly ploughed into the private equity fund of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former advisor.The Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi-based asset manager Lunate have also invested $1.5 billion into the fund, according to Bloomberg.The Trump Organization has been run by the president’s two eldest sons, Don Jr and Eric, since his 2016 election win. While he no longer holds an executive title, Trump has retained his stake in the family business via a trust.For the Gulf states, which are trying to diversify their fossil fuel-reliant economies by attracting tourism and investment, Trump-branded, luxury-focused developments are a good fit.However, that is not the only benefit, as they spy an easy route to access and influence at the heart of the world’s most powerful country, experts say.According to Hasan Alhasan, a senior fellow for Middle East Policy at the IISS think tank, signing deals with Trump beats the well-worn approach of buying US weaponry.”For decades, the Gulf states’ colossal weapons purchases have lined the pockets of US defence companies whose PACs (political action committees) are among the largest donors to US election campaigns,” he said.”Catering to the Trump family’s commercial interests is perhaps seen as a shorter and more effective route toward the same objective: political influence,” he said.- ‘More than commercial plays’ -“In return, the Gulf states want US arms, assurances and advanced technology,” notably artificial intelligence, Alhasan said.One major interest for the UAE, which aims to be a leader in artificial intelligence, is securing access to advanced US technologies including AI chips under restricted export.The USD1 transaction by state-owned AI fund MGX, chaired by the president’s brother Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, came after he visited Washington in March and reportedly lobbied for access to the chips.Gulf dealings with the Trump Organization pale in comparison with government pledges, including the Saudi promise of $600 billion for US trade and investments.The White House has said the UAE has committed to a 10-year, $1.4-trillion dollar investment framework, a figure not confirmed or denied by Abu Dhabi.Riyadh was Trump’s first official visit in his inaugural term. Ahead of this trip, the United States approved a $3.5-billion sale of missiles to Saudi Arabia.”From the Gulf side, these investments are far more than just commercial plays -– they are strategic transactional levers,” said Middle East analyst Andreas Krieg.

Jordan hospital treats war casualties from across Middle East

Shahd Tahrawi was wounded in an Israeli strike on Gaza, Hossam Abd al-Rahman suffered burns in an explosion in Iraq and bombardment in Yemen has left Mohammed Zakaria in need of multiple surgeries.They all met at the charitable Al-Mowasah hospital in the Jordanian capital Amman, which treats some of the many civilians wounded in conflicts across the Middle East.”I feel sad when I look around me in this place” seeing “people like me, innocent, simple civilians” whose lives have been blighted by the horrors of war, said Abd al-Rahman, a 21-year-old Iraqi patient.”They are victims of war, burned by its fires… but had no part in igniting them,” he told AFP.He is waiting for his ninth operation at the Amman hospital, to treat third-degree burns to his face, neck, abdomen, back and hand he suffered in an accident with unexploded ordnance in his native city of Samarra, north of Baghdad.”I was a child when I was burned 10 years ago,” he said.”My life was completely destroyed, and my future was lost. I left school even though my dream was to become a pilot one day.”Abd al-Rahman, who had 17 surgeries in Iraq before arriving at the hospital in Jordan, said that through “all these painful operations”, he hopes to “regain some of my appearance and life as a normal human being”.At Al-Mowasah, also known as the Specialised Hospital for Reconstructive Surgery and run by medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Abd al-Rahman said he has found comfort in meeting patients from around the region.”We spend long periods of time here, sometimes many months, and these friendships reduce our loneliness and homesickness.”- ‘They feel safe’ -MSF field communications manager Merel van de Geyn said the hospital has patients “from conflict zones across the Middle East, from Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Gaza”.”We provide them with complete treatment free of charge” and cover the cost of flights, food and other expenses, she said.In addition to the medical procedures, the hospital places great importance on psychological support.”Here, they feel safe,” said van de Geyn.”They’re surrounded by people who have gone through similar experiences… Mutual support truly helps them.”From her room on the hospital’s fifth floor, Shahd Tahrawi, a 17-year-old Palestinian, recalled the night of December 9, 2023, when a massive explosion destroyed her family’s home in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.The Israeli bombardment killed her father and 11-year-old sister, and left Shahd and her mother wounded.Shahd has had five operations on her left leg, three of them in Jordan.She said that on the night of the strike, she was woken up by the sound of the explosion and the rubble falling on her.”I started screaming, ‘Help me, help me!’… and then I lost conciousness.”Now, she said her dream was to become a doctor and help “save people’s lives, just like the doctors save mine”.- ‘Nothing but destruction’ -The hospital was established in 2006 to treat victims of the sectarian violence that erupted in Iraq in the aftermath of the US-led invasion, but has since expanded its mission.In just under two decades, 8,367 patients from Iraq, Yemen, the Palestinian territories, Sudan, Libya and Syria have undergone a total of 18,323 surgeries for injuries caused by bullets, explosions, bombardment, air strikes and building collapses in conflict.The hospital has 148 beds, three operating theatres, and physiotherapy and psychological support departments.In one room, four Yemeni patients were convalescing.One of them, 16-year-old Mohammed Zakaria, had dreamt of becoming a professional footballer, before his life changed dramatically when an air strike blew up a fuel tanker in Yarim, south of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, in 2016.The blast killed six of his relatives and friends, his father, Zakaria Hail, said.”The war has brought us nothing but destruction,” said the father, sitting next to his son who is unable to speak after recent surgery to his mouth.

Film claims to name killer of slain journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

A new documentary purports to name the Israeli soldier who killed Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, who was gunned down in the West Bank while reporting in 2022.Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist known for her coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict, was shot dead in Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank while she worked, wearing a bulletproof vest marked “press.”Al Jazeera and witnesses immediately blamed the Israeli army. Then Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said it was probable the shots had come from Palestinian militants. In the weeks that followed, several journalistic investigations pointed the blame at Israeli gunfire. Months later, Israel released an internal investigation that found a “high probability” that Abu Akleh was accidentally shot by the Israeli army, which claimed it was targeting armed Palestinians.Produced by independent news site Zeteo, the documentary “Who killed Shireen?” names for the first time the suspect as Alon Scaggio, an elite soldier.”Israel did everything it could to conceal the soldier’s identity, they wouldn’t provide the US with any information. They wouldn’t let the US interview him. They wouldn’t give the US his statement. And they wouldn’t give his name,” said Dion Nissenbaum, a journalist who worked on the film.Assisted by producer Conor Powell and reporter Fatima AbdulKarim — who worked for The New York Times in the West Bank — Nissenbaum, a former Wall Street Journal correspondent, consulted testimony from two Israeli soldiers present in Jenin on May 11, 2022 as well as top US officials.- ‘Intentional killing’ claim -The documentary alleges that Scaggio, then 20, had completed training for the elite Duvdevan unit just three months prior.”He shot her intentionally. There’s no question about that. The question is did he know she was a journalist and did he know she was Shireen Abu Akleh? Was it an order from above?” Nissenbaum told AFP.”Personally, I don’t think it was an order. I don’t think he knew it was Shireen. Nobody ever has indicated that he could tell that it was Shireen. But she was wearing the blue flak-jacket with the word ‘press’ on it.””The evidence (suggests)… it was an intentional killing of Shireen Abu Akleh. Whether or not they knew it was her or not can very well be debated, but they would have absolutely known that it was a media person or a non-combatant at a minimum,” said a senior official from the administration of then US president Joe Biden, speaking in the film anonymously.Washington did not exert significant pressure on the issue, the documentary claims, for fear of antagonizing its ally.Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said he called on Biden to declassify documents about the killing — but went unanswered.The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said “it is the first time that a potential suspect has been named in connection with an Israeli killing of a journalist” according to its records dating back to 1992.Impunity in the case “has effectively given Israel permission to silence hundreds more” journalists, the CPJ said.Reporters Without Borders estimates around 200 journalists were killed in the past 18 months of Israeli strikes on Gaza.An Israeli army spokesman condemned the unauthorized disclosure of the suspect’s name despite no “definitive determination” of who shot Abu Akleh.The soldier in question “fell during an operational activity,” the army added.Nissenbaum had initially thought Scaggio died in Gaza, but ultimately concluded he was killed in Jenin on June 27, 2024 almost two years after Abu Akleh.