One good thing, among many, about being semi-retired is that when breaking stories tumble out, friends and acquaintances have stopped asking me, “What’s really going on?”
As if I ever knew when I was in the middle of it. But now, as a civilian, I can read or watch the latest developments and scratch my head along with everyone else.
Like the latest showdown between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump. Who knows if the dialogue, as reported by Barak Ravid on Axios, in which Trump called Bibi “f**king crazy,” and boasted that the prime minister would be in prison without him, is accurate or not.
It sounds like it certainly could be. Netanyahu and Trump have always exploited each other to gain what they needed at any given time. And now – as is evident by Israel being shunned from the ongoing negotiations between Iran and the US and its Arab partners, on a comprehensive deal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz – Trump doesn’t need Israel, or Netanyahu.
In fact, we’re a thorn in his side. Trump doesn’t really care that Hezbollah terrorists are attacking Israeli civilians in an ongoing war, if it means that Israel’s retaliation and attempt to stop their aggression places a possible deal with Iran in jeopardy.
And maybe Bibi is, indeed, crazy. How many times can you repeat the same script, vowing to destroy the enemy’s capabilities by using firepower… yet the end result is that the enemy is still there and posing a threat?
The demand from Trump that Israel refrain from attacking Hezbollah in Beirut, and Netanyahu’s acquiescence, has resulted in Israel’s horseshoe effect.
The reactions of figures as disparate as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and The Democrats’ Yair Golan about the government’s impotence in Lebanon can practically be imprinted on each other. We’re no longer making our own decisions and are responsible for our own fate, they say.
How can we abandon the residents of the North, yells Golan. And how can we let Hezbollah survive, bellows Ben-Gvir, echoing two sides of the same coin.
And they’re right. But what do they advocate? An all-out war in Lebanon that will leave thousands of civilian victims and likely still won’t end Hezbollah’s evil empire?
Lack of route to 'total victory'
ONE THING we’ve learned since October 7 is that, whether regarding Hezbollah, Hamas, or Iran, there doesn’t appear to be any avenue to “total victory.” There’s only containment and temporary lulls.
A total victory over Iran might have changed the scenario, but Trump has apparently lost his stomach to achieve the goals he set out at the onset of the war. Maybe he realized that they were unachievable, that his popularity was tanking, that gas prices were spiking, and that the upcoming midterm elections are going to be a disaster.
And he’s willing to hang Israel out to dry in his efforts to salvage a deal in which he doesn’t look too foolish, and can claim that he bought Tehran to its knees.
Right now, Israel is facing a quagmire in which, on almost a daily basis, young and beautiful IDF soldiers are getting killed by Hezbollah drones. Hundreds of thousands of citizens in the North are being held hostage in a cruel game of Russian roulette, hoping that their number isn’t on a drone as they run to shelters multiple times a day.
The “ceasefire” that Trump imposed on Israel and Hezbollah this week has already been violated by the terrorist group, and means that if it hasn’t already happened, the IDF will focusing on Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut.
At the same time, the farcical charade being played out in Washington, where negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are continuing to take place under Trump’s auspices, continues to spin its wheels. Wednesday night, the delegations announced that they had agreed on a ceasefire, contingent upon Hezbollah ceasing its fire on Israel and on all terrorist operatives moving north of the Litani.
That’s like declaring a cure for cancer, contingent upon the cancerous cells agreeing to no longer attack the body. Does anyone really think that Hezbollah will simply abide by agreement that they were not part of negotiating? Let’s see if the deal lasts until this column appears on Friday.
MEANWHILE, useless UN Secretary-General António Guterres has proposed that the UN Security Council establish a new force to replace UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.
The new force would comprise hundreds or even thousands of troops and would be tasked with ensuring that the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel is maintained. UNIFIL proved to be such a success that it needs a successor when its mission is terminated.
That’s another example of insanity: repeating a failed path and yet expecting to achieve different results.
But maybe we’re all crazy here, with minds melted from years of war and no solutions in sight. Trump is crazy for reining in Israel’s ability to defend its citizens. Netanyahu is crazy for thinking that, after beepers, pagers, Hassan Nasrallah, and crossing the Litani River, going after Hezbollah’s leadership in Beirut will make a difference.
And the rest of us – on both sides of the pond – are crazy for allowing ourselves to be led by leaders who, in Trump’s case, is clearly unfit for his role, and in Netanyahu’s case, is no longer fit for his role.
But what do I know? I’m lucky nobody asks me anymore about what’s really going on.
The writer is a former managing editor of The Jerusalem Post.