[News] Rekindling the Old Love Affair: Can Trump Save Netanyahu?

[Anti-Imperialist News]

counterpunch.org
<https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/07/12/rekindling-the-old-love-affair-can-trump-save-netanyahu/>
Rekindling the Old Love Affair: Can Trump Save Netanyahu?
Ramzy Baroud
6–7 minutesJuly 12, 2024
------------------------------

Image by Getty Images and Unsplash+.

Many political analysts believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu is buying time in Gaza and Lebanon with the hope
<https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rks7yypct> that Donald Trump returns to
the White House, following the next November elections.

Whether this is the case or not, Trump, this time around, is unlikely to
influence the outcomes of the war, or to alter Israel’s fate.

US foreign policy seems to be ruled by two different outlooks, one
dedicated to the whole world and another only to Israel. The first is
driven by the famous, and oft-repeated quote
<https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/thought-for-the-day/america-has-no-permanent-friends-or-enemies-only-interests-%E2%80%94-henry-kissinger-292097>
by former US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, that “America has no
permanent friends or enemies, only interests.”

Israel, however, remains the exception, and the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza
has, once more, demonstrated the truth of such a claim.

Though Washington fully shares Israel’s war objectives, it fundamentally
disagrees with the concepts of the long war, and ‘total victory’, as
championed
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-vows-total-victory-against-hamas-says-pa-rejects-israel-cant-rule-gaza/>
by Netanyahu.

Two protracted US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq taught the Americans that
neither the longevity of wars nor the lofty, unrealistic expectations alter
inevitable outcomes.

In fact, many US officials, military generals and mainstream analysts have
tried to warn Netanyahu, to no avail.

Destabilizing the Middle East at this specific historical juncture is
simply bad for the US. It comes at a time when Ukraine is suffering serious
weapons shortage, thus territorial losses, and at a time that the
US-European allies are struggling under the weight of economic and
political crises.

Since US-Israeli relations are governed according to a unique foreign
policy paradigm, the Biden Administration continues to support Israel in
every possible way so that it may carry on with a losing war.

The war is, of course, happening at the expense of over 125 thousand
Palestinians, who, thus far, have been killed
<https://wenewsenglish.pk/israel-negotiating-ceasefire-deal-with-hamas-as-gaza-death-toll-surpasses-38011/>
and wounded due to Israeli strikes, shelling and mass executions. Those
dying from famine or disease are a different number, yet to be fully
accounted for.

Washington is not perturbed by the Gaza genocide itself but by the outcome
of the war on US plans in the Middle East, and the future of its forces,
namely in Iraq and Syria. It is also concerned about its geostrategic sway
in the region due to the unprecedented instability of the Red Sea.

Yet, Joe Biden continues to arm Israel and to provide a safety net to its
dwindling economy. On April 20, the House passed a bill to provide
<https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/04/20/congress/israel-aid-passes-wrapping-foreign-aid-bill-00153494>
$26.3 billion in assistance to Israel. Moreover, massive shipments of
weapons continue to flow to Israel unhindered.

These explosives are not only destroying the whole of Gaza, but any chances
that the US could ever regain any degree of credibility in the Middle East.
Worse, US blind support for Israel has also shaken Washington’s position
internationally.

So, what could Trump do that Biden did not?

Trump’s politics is abashedly Machiavellian. During his only term
<https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/people/donald-j-trump/> in office
between 2017 and 2021, he served the role of the American genie, granting
Israel’s every wish, though all such demands were flagrant violations of
international law.

Trump’s pro-Israel policies included the recognition
<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/world/middleeast/trump-jerusalem-israel-capital.html>
of all of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the annexation
<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-47697717> of the Golan Heights
and the recognition
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-of-pompeos-statement-on-settlements/>
of all illegal Israeli Jewish settlements in the West Bank, among others.

But Netanyahu is also Machiavellian, a fact that irked Trump following his
humiliating exit from the White House.

“I haven’t spoken to him since,” Trump said
<https://www.axios.com/2021/12/10/trump-netanyahu-disloyalty-fuck-him> in
an interview with Axios’ Barak Ravid in December 2021, in reference to the
Israeli leader. “F**k him,” he said.

But now, both sides are trying to rekindle the old love affair. The
Republican presidential candidate must be pleased with Netanyahu’s public
criticism of the Biden Administration. In return, Trump is ready to “finish
the job”, as he stated in the first presidential debate on June 27.

However, Trump’s return will do nothing to change Israel’s misfortunes
since October 7, because Israel’s problems do not originate in Washington.

Israel’s crisis is multifaceted. It is unable to win the war in Gaza,
despite the mass tragedy and destruction it has created there. It is also
failing to change the rules of engagements in Lebanon due to the strength
of its enemies, and the fact that its military is unable to fight and win
on multiple fronts – let alone one.

Another dimension of the Israeli crisis is also internal: deep divisions in
Israeli society, security apparatus and politicians. Not even Trump could
possibly bridge the gap or end the polarization, which is likely to deepen
in the future.

Even on the international front, Trump is likely to prove equally
ineffective, again, simply because the Biden Administration has defied
international consensus on Israel since the start of the war. The current
US House of Representatives went
<https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm5512l7yero> as far as passing
legislation to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) after its
Prosecutor applied for arrest warrants against Israeli officials.

If Netanyahu thinks that Trump would offer him a better deal than that of
Biden, he is mistaken. Biden has proved to be the greatest American enabler
to Israel in its 76-year history.

Ironically, the US’ unquestioned support of Israel could be a contributing
factor to its downfall.

“To be an enemy of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal,”
Kissinger also said. He is not wrong.

*Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He
is the author of five books. His latest is “**These Chains Will Be Broken*
<https://www.amazon.com/These-Chains-Will-Broken-Palestinian/dp/1949762092>*:
Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons” (Clarity
Press, Atlanta). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the
Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Zaim University (IZU).
His website is **www.ramzybaroud.net* <http://www.ramzybaroud.net/>
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