American Officials on Israel's Attack on Suwayda: "Netanyahu Acts Like a Madman"

SadaNews - There is growing concern in the White House regarding the Israeli airstrikes on Syria's Suwayda province and anger towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Channel 12 reported an official in the White House saying, "Bibi (Netanyahu) is acting like a madman. He's bombing anything that moves all the time. This could jeopardize what Trump is trying to do in Syria specifically and in the region generally."

Another U.S. official pointed to the martyrdom of Palestinian-American citizen Saifullah Muslat, who was beaten to death by settlers in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah in the West Bank, and the Israeli army's bombing of a church in Gaza, which prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to call Netanyahu and demand clarifications. The U.S. official stated, "The feeling is that there is something new every day. What the hell is happening here?"

Channel 12 reported a third U.S. official saying that there are rising doubts within the Trump administration regarding Netanyahu, with a feeling that he has a hair trigger. "Netanyahu is like a boy sometimes and simply does not know how to act," he added.

Trump has not criticized the Israeli airstrikes on Suwayda. A U.S. official stated that U.S. envoy Tom Barrack requested during talks with Israeli officials last Tuesday to halt these strikes, and the Israelis pledged to stop them. However, Israel escalated its attacks afterward, bombing the military general staff headquarters and the presidential palace in Damascus on Wednesday.

One American official added that "the Israeli attacks in Syria surprised the President and the White House. The President does not like to turn on the TV and watch bombings in a country he is trying to bring peace to after issuing a historic announcement about his intention to help rebuild this country."

On Wednesday, Netanyahu agreed to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's request to stop the attacks, but conditioned that on the withdrawal of the Syrian army from Suwayda. During this time, several countries, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia, sent angry messages to the Trump administration over the Israeli aggression against Syria, and several American officials complained directly to Trump about Netanyahu's actions, according to the channel.

The channel reported, citing a U.S. official, that American envoys Tom Barrack and Steve Witkoff were among the officials who complained directly to Trump about Netanyahu's behavior.

The channel added that the prevailing opinion in the White House in the days following the Israeli attacks in Syria is that Netanyahu ordered the bombings due to internal political pressure from the Druze community in Israel and for other political considerations. It quoted a U.S. official saying, "The domestic political agenda is driving Netanyahu. It will become clear in the long term that this is a wrong course of action."

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A U.S. official told the channel that the Israeli government does not fully realize the damage being done to Israel's image in Washington in recent weeks, and that "the Israelis need to get their heads out of their butts."

An Israeli official claimed that Israel was surprised by the American criticism of the attacks in Syria, noting that in the early weeks of Trump's administration, he encouraged Netanyahu to occupy parts of Syria and did not express concerns or criticisms regarding Israeli military operations in Syria.

The Israeli official added that "the United States wants to maintain the stability of the new Syrian government and does not understand why we attack in Syria due to the attacks on Druze there. We tried to explain to them that this is our commitment to the Druze community in Israel."

In contrast, an American official stated that contrary to what Netanyahu's government wants, Israel should not decide whether the Syrian government can or cannot impose its sovereignty over its citizens and territory, "and Israel's current policy will lead to an unstable Syria. In such a scenario, both the Druze and Israel will lose."