Okay, here is my quick response to the Israeli attack on Iran:
First of all, even though there is a lot of "emotional baggage" between these two countries, this is essentially an unprovoked "Pearl Harbour" style attack by Israel. This is certainly how almost everybody in the World sees it. Only America is an exception to this, and even there, there is a lot of ambivalence.
In short, this weakens Israel's moral position even further following its near-genocide in Gaza.
Secondly, Netanyahu did this directly against Trump's wishes and his previous posturing as a "peacemaker" and a "deal maker." The US was pursuing diplomatic talks with Iran and had more discussions scheduled. Basically, this is Netanyahu just dumping a giant turd in the punch bowl.
The Israeli Premier did this because he has zero respect for Trump (possibly because he has the Epstein Files in his own desk drawer) and because he knows that Trump is powerless to impose even the extremely weak sanctions that Biden was attempting against Israel. Bibi is confident that the Israel lobby is strong enough in America to pull things through, no matter what excesses he gets up. It's not just "TACO" Trump that is in those Epstein Files, it would seem!
Thirdly, Trump instinctively realised how weak, pathetic, and out of the loop this attack by Israel made him look. After all Netanyahu is figuratively shitting on him. This is why Trump immediately went on Truth Social to post this obfuscating garbage:
The tone is all very much, "I tried to warn them" and "this was all due to our brilliant military equipment," etc.
Effectively, he is trying to claim a share in the glory of what he clearly believes is a devasting and decisive attack. However, his post completely ignores the fact that Israel used all this "best and most lethal" US military gear without the his say-so or that of the American government.
Trump is trying to have his cake and eat it here. He wants in on the credits for this impressive attack, but his administration is also sending out the cowardly message to Iran not to hit US servicemen in the Middle East because the US was not involved. This particularly demeaning message was delegated to "Little Marco."
However, Trump is wrong on all these points.
First of all, Netanyahu called the shots here and Trump just looks lame and passive; secondly, despite this, America and Trump are nevertheless implicated in this attack, simply by allowing Israel to use American-supplied weapons as they wish; and, thirdly and most importantly, this was not a such a "genius move" after all, despite the obvious skill with which it was carried out.
The end result of this attack will simply be to ensure that no deal to keep Iran non-nuclear can now succeed.
As a consequence of this, Iran will almost definitely accelerate its efforts to develop nuclear weapons. This could happen within days, weeks, or months, depending on the extent of Israeli-inflicted damage, but it will certainly happen; and this will be Netanyahu's ultimate legacy to Israel, which will also be the beginning of its end.
But almost as bad as this existential misstep, is the spectacle of Trump pretending that all this happened somehow at his behest, while also pretending to have clean hands.
Does this pathetic attempt at stealing Israel's valour make up for some deep-seated sense of shame that Trump has carried with him for dodging the draft all those years ago? And what insane act will he now need to engage in to offset the unbearable humiliation that Netanyahu has imposed on him with this unhinged attack?
Does this pathetic attempt at stealing Israel's valour make up for some deep-seated sense of shame that Trump has carried with him for dodging the draft all those years ago? And what insane act will he now need to engage in to offset the unbearable humiliation that Netanyahu has imposed on him with this unhinged attack?
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Colin Liddell is the Chief Editor of Neokrat and the author of Interviews & Obituaries, a collection of encounters with the dead and the famous. Support his work by buying his book here (USA), here (UK), and here (Australia), or by taking out a paid subscription on his Substack.
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