Friedman: Netanyahu Deceives Trump and American Jews Again

SadaNews - Veteran American writer Thomas Friedman believes that the right-wing Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu is "deceiving" both U.S. President Donald Trump and the Jews of the United States by focusing attention on the threat posed by Iran, while practically pursuing a course that threatens American interests and the safety of Jews around the world.

Friedman urged an end to this subterfuge and called for naming things by their true names, stating that this extreme government is spitting in America's face and wants us to believe that it is "rain and not rain"; rather, it is a deception of both Trump and American Jews, and the United States must not allow that.

In his column in the New York Times, Friedman asserts that Netanyahu keeps Washington focused on the Iranian nuclear and missile threat, but despite the importance of this, as the writer points out, Netanyahu's aim is to divert attention from what is happening in the West Bank and Gaza.

Here, the writer cites what former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in an article in Haaretz, that there is a "violent and criminal effort" to ethnically cleanse areas in the West Bank through settler attacks aimed at pushing Palestinians to leave in preparation for annexing the land.

According to Friedman, the acceleration of annexation in the West Bank and the pursuit of a permanent stay in Gaza, while depriving Palestinians of political rights, is a "recklessly immoral and demographically suicidal" adventure; maintaining the control of about 7 million Israeli Jews over a similar number of Palestinians forever will make Israel, in his view, resemble an apartheid system and turn it into a burden on its allies, comparing this step to the United States annexing Mexico.

If Israeli leaders, Friedman says, insist on committing "national suicide, I cannot stop them."

However, the writer warns that the repercussions of this will not be limited to Israel, but will also affect the United States, pointing to polls showing a decline in support for Israel among younger Republicans and Democrats, as well as the positions of representatives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who have called for reconsidering unconditional aid to Israel.

Friedman goes further, explaining that the continuation of the Israeli government's approach will tear Jewish communities apart between supporters and opponents and put new generations before the reality of a despised Jewish state.

In Friedman's opinion, the problem does not lie solely in foreign policy, but extends to the internal Israeli situation, where Netanyahu is accused of attempting to undermine the judiciary and diminish the independence of institutions, hindering investigations and measures affecting the rule of law, including those related to the failures of the attack on October 7, 2023, and he considers this "internal threat" to be more dangerous to Israel's democracy than Iran itself.

The writer concludes that Iran poses a real danger, but reducing everything to that serves Netanyahu politically; in his view, if Israel were seriously engaged in the two-state solution, it would open the door to broader normalization with Arab countries and strengthen American interests in the region. On the other hand, proceeding with annexation and entrenching permanent control, as he says, serves the interests of Tehran and undermines Israel's status and its relationship with Washington.

Friedman ends by asserting that Iran is not the greatest threat to Israel as a democratic state governed by the rule of law, nor is it the greatest threat to U.S.-Israeli relations, or the greatest threat to the unity and security of Jews worldwide, nor is it the main reason for the emigration of such a large number of Israeli talents, including technicians, engineers, and doctors, nor the main reason for Israel becoming an apartheid state, not only by refusing to seek the establishment of an independent Palestinian state but by its relentless efforts to make that impossible, according to his expression.

Rather, the reason for all this is the "government of messianic extremists, Arab-hating nationalists, and anti-modern hardliners, who have gathered under Benjamin Netanyahu to stay in power," as he puts it.

Source: New York Times