Cool heads, however, prevailed. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states did not replace the U.S. security umbrella. Instead, the GCC states and the United States collaborated closely on the latest Gaza cease-fire. While, in a clear break from previous policy, the Trump administration proclaimed that it would consider any future attack on Qatar to constitute a direct threat to the United States. It may now be about to offer Saudi Arabia the same guarantee.

When the latest Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal was announced on Oct. 9, Israeli negotiator Alon Nitzan celebrated by hugging his interlocutor, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. That image stood in sharp contrast to the events of one month prior, when Israel bombed a central Doha neighborhood and Al Thani subsequently denounced Tel Aviv’s “state terrorism.” Some observers then questioned whether the Trump administration’s equivocal response to Israel’s strike and the crisis of confidence it precipitated meant that the Gulf states would now pivot away from the United States.

When the latest Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal was announced on Oct. 9, Israeli negotiator Alon Nitzan celebrated by hugging his interlocutor, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. That image stood in sharp contrast to the events of one month prior, when Israel bombed a central Doha neighborhood and Al Thani subsequently denounced Tel Aviv’s “state terrorism.” Some observers then questioned whether the Trump administration’s equivocal response to Israel’s strike and the crisis of confidence it precipitated meant that the Gulf states would now pivot away from the United States.

Cool heads, however, prevailed.