NYT Columnist: Netanyahu Will Probably Escalate in Gaza to Give Edge to Trump
Israeli PM wants Miriam Adelson-owned Donald Trump to win
Thomas Friedman, the New York Times columnist, wrote in today’s paper that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has outmaneuvered U.S. President Joe Biden and has “set things up so he alone can decide when the war in Gaza is over.”
“Which will be when it suits his political survival needs. That is certainly not today,” Friedman wrote.
He wrote that he believes Netanyahu could escalate the war in Gaza “between now and Election Day to make life difficult for the Democrats running for office.”
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“Netanyahu may do this because, I believe, he wants Trump to win and he wants to be able to tell Trump that he helped him win,” he continued. “Then, if Trump wins, I would not be shocked if Bibi declares that his “total victory” in Gaza has been achieved, agrees to some cease-fire to get back any hostages still alive, mumbles a few words about Palestinian statehood in the far-off, distant future to get the Saudi-Israel normalization deal and tells his craziest far-right partners to get lost while he runs for re-election without them.”
Friedman wrote: “His likely platform: I brought total victory in Gaza and, with Trump, forged a historic opening between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Netanyahu wins. Trump wins. Israel loses. Gaza will still be boiling, of course. Israeli troops will still be occupying it. Israel will be more of a pariah state than ever, with more and more talented Israelis leaving for jobs abroad, but Bibi will have another term — and that is all that counts.”
Friedman’s column is old news to Trends Journal subscribers.
We wrote in July, when Netanyahu added new hurdles to a potential ceasefire deal, that Israelis even called a non-starter, that Netanyahu knows he runs the U.S. government no matter which party is in power, but the possibility of a Donald Trump presidency has Israeli leaders even less interested in a ceasefire deal with Hamas than before—with Bullshit Biden.
Netanyahu said at the time that the key to the negotiations is to keep the foot on Hamas’s neck, so “as long as we keep pressuring them, Hamas will give up more and more,” according to The New York Times.
Axios noted that Netanyahu has already begun trying to shore up his personal relationship with Trump.
“Netanyahu was one of the first world leaders to issue a statement condemning the assassination attempt against Trump, and followed up with at least three additional statements and social media posts expressing solidarity,” the report said. It continued, “One of Netanyahu’s aides said it was strategic from Netanyahu to refer to Trump as ‘President Trump’ not ‘former President Trump’ in the video.”
Netanyahu has faced pressure from fellow extremists in the Knesset who want to press on with the bloodshed in Gaza. He also faces growing pressure from families of hostages who want their loved ones released.
But Netanyahu has presented himself as dedicated to the war and has bragged that he ignored Biden’s Rafah “red line,” which we noted was actually a “red carpet.”
“Pressure on me will not work,” Netanyahu said.
TRENDPOST: Gideon Levy, the top Israeli journalist who writes for Haaretz, said in an interview last month that the Israeli government had to choose between pursuing its war with Hamas or saving the hostages, and decided to abandon those taken captive.
From the beginning, people like me said Israel has to make a choice between the war and releasing the hostages,” he said. “You have to choose between the two because the two will not be achieved together. Israel clearly chose to pursue the war.”
He said Israel laid out plans to crush Hamas, but said that will never happen.
“But by this, we gave up on the hostages,” he said. “And I don’t see any [ceasefire] deal coming in the coming days or weeks. No way. Israel is not interested.”
More than 100 Israelis are believed to be held captive in Gaza, Reuters reported.
Yair Lapid, the opposition leader, criticized Netanyahu for a trip to Washington to address his followers in the U.S. Congress. He said Netanyahu should be negotiating in Cairo or Qatar for the hostage release.
“Don’t go give a speech in the air-conditioning in Washington while the hostages are dying of suffocation in Gaza’s tunnels,” he said.