WORLD WAR: Trump’s ego vs Bibi’s ambition

Alameen Templeton

Israel’s chief genocidaire Benjamin Netanyahu’s ambitions to pulverise Arabia into submission could pit him head-on against incoming US president Donald Trump who wants to focus US resources on “containing China” instead of “peripheral conflicts” like Gaza.
Analysts say Netanyahu may have preferred Trump as US president over Kamala Harris, but that doesn’t mean the Israeli warlord in going to get things all his own way.
“Trump wants to end the fighting in the Middle East almost as much as he does in Ukraine”, an anonymous source told Politico this week, because he believes the US has to use all its might in coming years to prevent a Chinese ascendency on the world state.
But Netanyahu wants to recast the entire region, with Palestine non-existent and with mutual security guarantees with other, US-aligned countries, keeping Iran docile and the US tied protectively to Israel’s hip.
That could pit him directly against Trump who launched his “normalization” campaign during his first tenure. Netanyahu’s Gaza genocide has alienated all the Trump allies who lined up in 2019 to sign normalization agreements.
They’re now demanding full, Palestinian autonomy, with a sustainable, independent state alongside Israel before any “normalization” can proceed.
So, Netanyahu’s regional ambitions are threatening to upend all of Trump’s work to end US entanglement in Arabia and to soil his “legacy”.
Former Netanyahu election adviser Nadav Shtrauchler tells Politico: ““But now there’s a much bigger picture — Iran. After eliminating Nasrallah, and eliminating Sinwar, (Netanyahu’s) aiming for the big goal. I think he made a huge shift in the last few weeks or so … to a new narrative. He’s looking for Iran right now, and there’s still that debt to pay.”
“And the road to that destination — humbling Tehran, or even toppling the clerical regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — runs through Lebanon.”
Effectively, as Netanyahu gets his way, Trump’s precious “normalization” legacy is already in the dustbin and that won’t win any friends in the MAGA camp.
Ya’akov Peri, a former Shin Bet chief and former Knesset lawmaker, blames Netanyahu for the right-wing lurch Israel took with the assassination of former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. Rabin hated the West Bank settlers and was keen on signing a deal with the Palestinian Authority.
Netanyahu’s ascendency has undone all that, and some. But now he’s painted himself into a corner, committing Holocaust in a vain bid to exterminate Hamas, angering Hezbollah into direct confrontations, thereby making the Lebanon war also inevitable, Peri says.
“We understand that the world doesn’t like it. And the world will not be sympathetic to Israel when we’re killing children and civilians in Gaza and Lebanon. But we haven’t got a choice. If we want to stay alive in Israel, we have to.”
But it’s future “avoidable inevitabilities”, that has Peri concerned. He has no doubt Netanyahu is keeping up the pressure just to stay in office to delay his corruption cases involving hundreds of millions of shekels in bribes and favouritism with a media company in return for favourable news coverage from the Walla website.
Trump knows what it’s like to try dodge court cases while trying to rule a country, but he’s unlikely to allow any sympathy to ensnare the US in a forever war in Arabia.
He’s made it clear his interests are focused squarely on China and the MAGA camp is sending out messages making that clear to potential new recruits to the coming Trump administration’s state department.
Having less exposure in the Middle East is a theme that others tipped for national security roles in Trump’s next administration have highlighted as well — they want the focus on China.
Speaking to Politico over the summer, Elbridge Colby — who some in Washington believe is in the running for deputy defense secretary or possibly deputy national security adviser — said the U.S. “should be having a smaller footprint in the Middle East. It would be a mistake if we fritter away our resources on peripheral conflicts”.