US President Donald Trump blasted Israel on Tuesday after Jerusalem said it would respond to Iranian violations of the ceasefire brokered by the United States.
“I’m not happy with Iran,” Trump said on his way to attend a NATO summit at The Hague.
“But I’m really not happy with Israel.”
“We have two countries that have been fighting for so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f**k they’re doing.”
Between the time Trump announced the ceasefire and when it officially came into effect, Tehran launched a series of roughly 20 missiles at Israel, killing four people in a direct hit on a building in B’er-Sheva.
Israel intercepted two missiles from Iran at about 10:30 Israel time, just hours after the ceasefire came into effect.
Defense Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) said he “instructed the IDF to respond forcefully to the violation of the ceasefire by Iran with powerful strikes against regime targets in the heart of Tehran.”
But shortly after making his comments Tuesday morning, Trump posted to Truth Social: “ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!”
Since Trump sent American B2 planes to bomb Iran’s Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities on Saturday night, Israelis across the political spectrum naively celebrated what they saw as the US entering the war on Israel’s side.
But all those who cheered the US bombings should understand that, in addition to changing the historic meaning of the war, the Americans will now try to dictate the peace and the shape the new regional architecture according to their own interests.
One could make the case that US involvement was needed to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities – that it was a “necessary evil” (accepting the problematic assumption that Israel couldn’t plausibly do it ourselves) – but no one should pretend that there wouldn’t be a significant price for letting Trump into our war.
Jerusalem taking out Iran’s most protected nuclear installations alone would have been far more challenging than Washington deploying its B2 bomber jets and “bunker buster” munitions. But it would have been better for Israel in the long run had we insisted on going it alone.
Until Trump got involved, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud) was conducting Operation Rising Lion in such a way that showed Israel becoming the regional hegemon. It looked to many as if the dynamics of West Asia were about to change with Jerusalem playing a major role.
What most Israelis don’t seem to appreciate is that one of the motivating factors for Trump jumping into the conflict was to limit Israeli actions, gain control over the war, and to determine the postwar reality in West Asia.
Nations inviting the US to join a regional war war is like a local business inviting the mafia to become a partner in their enterprise. The outcome can only be designed to serve Washington’s carnivorous agenda.
More than assisting Israel’s war effort, the Americans stole our victory and diluted its significance. And now that he’s imposed a ceasefire on us, Trump wants to ensure that Israel obediently heeds it.
In a phone call between Trump and Netanyahu on Tuesday, the prime minister reportedly insisted on retaliating to Iran’s missile attacks. But after pressure from the president to avoid escalation, Israel is now expected to merely launch a scaled down symbolic strike.
Reports confirm Israeli forces will strike a single target, not in Tehran, in coordination with Washington.
Israeli officials are describing it as a measured, face-saving move rather than a full military response.
This this the inevitable result of Trump joining our war.
In 12 days, Israel went from pummeling our enemies and dominating the region to allowing the Americans to show our neighbors how easily they can control us.
