[Salon] The Establishment Slowly Wearies of Netanyahu and Israel

https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/the-establishment-slowly-wearies?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1351274&post_id=161349452&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=210kv&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

The Establishment Slowly Wearies of Netanyahu and Israel

Simplicius 5/10/25

The past few days have come alive with news that the Trump administration has had enough of Israel’s intransigence, and is veering toward a ‘hardball’ Plan B in its goal to stabilize the Middle East.

First came reports that Trump is allegedly readying to recognize Palestine as a state, then take over Gaza with a temporary ‘American administration’ in imitation of the British Mandate of the early 20th century.

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-853387

Jerusalem Post quotes an anonymous source:

A Gulf diplomatic source, who declined to be named or disclose his position, told The Media Line, "President Donald Trump will issue a declaration regarding the State of Palestine and American recognition of it, and that there will be the establishment of a Palestinian state without the presence of Hamas."

Many are rightfully skeptical, as there have been several other ‘big claims’ of this sort that amounted to nothing. However, it was Trump himself who boasted of something ‘unprecedented’ being in the works for the region, though usually his hyperbolic toots have amounted to big letdowns.

The article cites other reasons not to expect anything quite so drastic:

Ahmed Al-Ibrahim, a former Gulf diplomat, told The Media Line, "I don't expect it to be about Palestine. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and King Abdullah II of Jordan have not been invited. They are the two countries closest to Palestine, and it would be important for them to be present at any event like this."

But this one dubious scoop is only the tip of the iceberg.

More and more the entire establishment appears to be turning against the apartheid state; it seems even the elites can no longer stomach the brazenness of Israel’s crimes—which is saying something. Either that, or they’re resentful of how bad Israel is making them look by so openly flaunting its genocidal appetites. “Can’t you murder those Palestinians a little more quietly?” the elites seem to groan.

For instance, here’s bloodthirsty war-addict Christiane Amanpour recently expressing her disgust at the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel’s callousness:

Now there have been reports that “AIPAC is getting shut out” of Trump’s administration entirely:

Just spoke with a General who is in the Mar-A-Lago crowd. He said that AIPAC is getting shut out of the Trump administration, confirmed that Walz was trying to undermine Trump by working with Netanyahu, and said he is hopeful that the U.S. will decouple from Mossad & MI6.

This comes alongside news that SecDef Pete Hegseth cancelled his trip to Israel:

If that wasn’t bad enough Iraq war-era arch-neocon and three-time Pulitzer winning journalist Thomas L. Friedman has dropped this bombshell piece, which really reflects the current pulse behind the scenes:

https://archive.ph/CkW7G

Sorry, first allow me to retract the above description—according to Trump Homeland Security Advisory Council appointee Mark Levin, it is no longer felicitous to use the above term:

Well, if not a neocon, let’s just say Friedman has been accused of openly supporting Israeli terrorism before. But even he has apparently drawn his line at naked genocide. In his open letter to president Trump he warns:

[It] suggests to me that you are starting to understand a vital truth: that this Israeli government is behaving in ways that threaten hard-core U.S. interests in the region. Netanyahu is not our friend.

Then he articulates it even more clearly:

Read that again:

But this ultranationalist, messianic Israeli government is not America’s ally. Because this is the first government in Israel’s history whose priority is not peace…Its priority is the annexation of the West Bank, the expulsion of the Palestinians of Gaza and the re-establishment there of Israeli settlements.

Well, now. What more can one say? Even Israel’s most diehard devotees now see the apartheid state with no legs to stand on.

He goes on:

The notion that Israel has a government that is no longer behaving as an American ally, and should not be considered as such, is a shocking and bitter pill for Israel’s friends in Washington to swallow — but swallow it they must.

Because in pursuit of its extremist agenda this Netanyahu government is undermining our interests.

But before you get misty-eyed at Friedman’s virtuous redemption arc, read the next part, where he essentially explains that the current geopolitical layout of the Mideast was fashioned in the ‘70s by Nixon and Kissinger primarily to boot out Russia and ensure America’s strategic supremacy over the region.

This means the gripes coming from him and his ilk have nothing to really do with the suffering of the Palestinians—but rather come down to the age-old geopolitical worry that Israel is going too far for its own good, and could find itself left without support—which would inevitably lead to its demise. In short: this is a cry of alarm for Israel to moderate its behavior before it invites doom; the Palestinian cause celebre, as always, is merely the currency of exchange for continued Israeli dominance.

The one thing Friedman did achieve, however, was the normalization and acceptance of concepts like ‘messianicism’ and ‘Jewish supremacism’ as central to the problem in Israel’s fatal trajectory:

Netanyahu refused to do it, because the Jewish supremacists in his cabinet said if he did so they would topple his government — and with Netanyahu on trial on multiple charges of corruption, he could not afford to give up the protection of being prime minister to drag out his trial and forestall a possible jail term.

He reiterates the chief thesis outlined above, that by moderating its actions, Israel can preserve American supremacy—and thus its own:

Normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, the most important Muslim power — built on an effort to forge a two-state solution with moderate Palestinians — would have opened the whole Muslim world to Israeli tourists, investors and innovators, eased tensions between Jews and Muslims the world over and consolidated U.S. advantages in the Middle East set in motion by Nixon and Kissinger for another decade or more.

He cites another important recent update—that the US reportedly no longer views normalization with Israel as a pre-requisite for Saudi Arabian cooperation on upcoming civil nuclear projects.

Friedman goes on to frame the expected new Gaza military operation as a tragedy only because it would invariably invite more war crimes charges against Israeli commanders and politicians, not because it would, you know, kill mountains of Palestinians.

As can be seen, Zionists don’t have a bone of real human sympathy in their bodies—they’re only capable of viewing tragedies like those in Gaza from the lens of how ‘damaging’ it may be to Israel’s repute. For all his fancy accolades, what Friedman doesn’t realize is that he himself is the product of supremacist conditioning. Due to the ‘eggshells’ approach toward criticizing Israel the world has been forced into, as a result of AIPAC’s dominance and ruthless wielding of the ‘antisemitism’ label, people like Friedman have never had to reckon with reality. Their issues have always been dealt with by soft dainty gloves, which has manifested as a true form of ‘white privilege’—or in the case of Mileikowsky and his ilk, Polish privilege.

Rooting the salience of the entire Gaza tragedy on its ‘geopolitical consequences’ rather than on, you know, genocide of hundreds of thousands of human beings, is enough to make one’s skin crawl. But it is of course par for the course for the Kissinger types, ruthless globalist strategizers who can only understand the world through the material lens of resource management.

He truly hits it home here:

This hurts us in other ways. As Hans Wechsel, a former senior policy adviser to U.S. Central Command, put it to me: “The more hopeless things seem for Palestinian aspirations, the less readiness there will be in the region to expand the U.S.-Arab-Israeli security integration that could have nailed down long-term advantages over Iran and China — and without requiring nearly as many U.S. military resources in the region to sustain.”

Translation: the more that Palestinians are holocausted, the less military advantages we can leverage over China. Everything is clear.

Funny, isn’t it, how Trump continues to bewail the purported “5,000 weekly dead” in the Ukrainian war as his chief impetus for peace, without batting a swollen spray-tanned eye at the Palestinian dead.

Friedman concludes with this bizarrely desperate appeal to Trump:

On the Middle East, you have some good independent instincts, Mr. President. Follow them. Otherwise you need to prepare yourself for this looming reality: Your Jewish grandchildren will be the first generation of Jewish children who will grow up in a world where the Jewish state is a pariah state.

“Forget the Palestinians, you’re one of us now. You don’t want to go down with the ship, do you, Donnie?”

No, Mr. Friedman. The apartheid colony is already a pariah state—and nothing you say can reverse the holocaust it has already committed on Palestinians, which the entire world has witnessed in all its depravity. Israel has irrevocably condemned itself to the ash heap; there is no turning back.

One commentator writes:

In the past 2 days, we've had: Trump no longer talking to Bibi, according to sources, feeling manipulated and tricked over Iran

Americans have dropped the condition of normalization of ties with Israel with the Saudis in order to have cooperation on civilian nuclear stuff

Hegseth announced he's cancelling his Israel trip

Mike Huckabee of all people, as ambassador to Israel saying in public that the US doesn't need Israeli permission to make a deal with the Houthis

JD Vance saying "we think there is a deal here that would integrate Iran into the global economy" in a Munich Leaders Meeting panel

George Friedman (ed: he means Thomas) publishing a NYT op-ed saying "This Israeli Government is Not Our Ally"

Sounds like a divorce underway or we're proving one hell of a point here

He forgot to mention stealth B-2 Bombers have also returned from Diego Garcia this week, signaling an end to escalations against Iran.

Israeli society continues to spiral; retired Israeli Major General Itzhak Brik’s prediction is only months away:

While Israel may not ‘collapse’ by August, it is however facing all kinds of systemic problems within its military structures. Just weeks ago the IDF’s new military chief warned of plaguing issues which are preventing the achievement of Gaza objectives:

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/h1bskfca1x

Israel’s new military chief has warned the government that a shortage of combat soldiers could limit the army’s ability to carry out its political leadership’s ambitions in Gaza, amid ongoing fighting with Hamas that has stretched into its second year.

Reports from last month claimed 75% of Hamas tunnels are still intact, and that the group’s membership has ballooned to a massive 40,000 fighters:

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israeli-military-admits-hamas-still-has-75-tunnels-intact-40000-fighters

Haaretz corroborated at least the 40k fighter tally.

The fact is, the resistance sphere has been frustrating and humiliating the empire. Just as Israel could not contain Hamas and failed in its incursion against Hezbollah, the US has been badly stymied by the Ansar Allah rebels in the Red Sea.

https://archive.ph/H4hNI

Last week the USS Truman lost two F/A-18 Hornets after—reportedly—being forced to maneuver against Houthi missiles. The entire charade has revolved around the US desperately doing Israel’s bidding because the US government remains under treasonous control of the Israeli lobby. Trump could very well be reaching his limits of frustration and is ready to take ‘drastic’ unilateral action to end this adventure, which is slowly bleeding the US dry. His ‘deal’ with the Houthis this week was clearly a sign of the US caving, though he was forced to ‘save face’ with claims it was the Houthis who cried uncle. Nothing of the sort: it was the US absolving itself of responsibility of having to protect its ships.

Could Trump be slowly realizing that the US will never achieve his vision of a ‘golden age’ if it does not pluck out the one most deeply-embedded thorn in its side? The thorn which has single-handedly caused the destruction of the American Empire over the past 25 years, sending the US on one disastrous Middle Eastern adventure after another in pursuit of some messianic prophecy?

No, most likely it is a hope too great to bridge, though admittedly the ‘QAnon’ folks remind me that “the plan” was always to “save Israel for last”, after first clearing out the domestic ‘deep state’.

Interestingly, Israel has gotten so terrified of ‘being left alone’ it has even reportedly begged the US to help keep Russian bases stationed in Syria as a counterweight to anything nasty that may emerge.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/report-israel-lobbying-us-to-keep-syria-weak-by-allowing-russian-bases-to-remain-there/

‼️US withdraws troops from Syria, Israel fears growing Turkish influence — Times of Israel

▪️The United States has notified Israel of its intention to begin a gradual withdrawal of troops from Syria within two months.

▪️Israel tried to prevent this decision, but Washington made it clear that it was not going to change its plans.

▪️US actions will strengthen Turkey's influence in the region, Israel fears.

➖"Among other things, a partial withdrawal of American troops is being considered," one of the officials told the publication.

▪️In December, the US said there were about 2,000 soldiers in Syria.

Times of Israel writes:

Israel is lobbying the United States to keep Syria weak and decentralized, including by letting Russia keep its military bases there to counter Turkey’s growing influence in the country, four sources familiar with the efforts say.

Kevork Almassian even suggests that Israel may work with Russia to create an Alawite state in the northwest of Syria.

https://21stcenturywire.com/2025/03/10/syria-russia-may-work-with-us-israel-to-build-alawite-state/

Israel could never stand on its own two feet, but can Trump really throw his favored ‘promised land’ to the dogs?

Just this past week, Houthi ballistic missiles slammed into Tel Aviv’s central Ben Gurion airport, inciting panic throughout:

It reportedly hit ~50 meters from the terminals:

The strike was followed by a hit near a Tel Aviv beach:

Mass panic at Tel Aviv beach following launch of Houthi missile toward Israeli territory — social media footage

Both the top American and Israeli defenses again could not stop the missiles—reputed to be the Palestine-2 ballistic missile based on Iran’s Fateh-110:

Israel is in deep trouble, and has backed itself into an intractable corner. Trump likewise senses his entire legacy hangs in the balance of becoming another in a long line of warmongers, drowned—like past administrations before him—in the endless Mideast conflicts stoked by the perennial Israeli puppeteers. Will he have the courage to make the boldest and most decisive move possible?

Jason Hickel sums it up well:

Palestine is the rock on which the West will break itself.

Put yourself in the shoes of people in the global South. For nearly two years they have watched how Western leaders, who love to talk about human rights and the rule of law, are happy to shred all these values in the most spectacular displays of hypocrisy in order to prop up their military proxy-state as it openly conducts genocide and ethnic cleansing against an occupied people, even in the face of *overwhelming* international condemnation. What do you think people in the South are supposed to conclude from this?

What would *you* conclude from this in their position? Decades of Western propaganda have been shattered, this time in full technicolour. Western governments have made it clear that they do not care about human rights and the rule of law when it comes to people of colour, the global majority. They spit on humanity. 500 years on from the beginning of the European colonial project and they have hardly changed in this regard.

If you think people will be willing to tolerate this going forward, you are mistaken. As Southern states begin to develop the capacity to reject Western hegemony, they will not hesitate to do so. In the 21st century, the West will find itself isolated from the world majority, and the world will move on without them. If Western governments had any sense they would realise this fact, work to re-establish the rule of law, and try to establish the moral basis for mutual respect and cooperation with the rest of the world.

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