For Netanyahu, the clock is ticking towards payday for Trump’s hasbara-heavy Israel trip. Can he afford the price tag dangling from Trump’s promise to be Israel’s ‘best friend’?

Colette Avital, Haaretz

The euphoria of the political right in Israel after President Trump’s election had already given way to concerns and fear on the eve of his arrival in the Middle East. After all the statements and promises made by Candidate Trump during the electoral campaign, not least his intention to transfer  the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, the atmosphere changed once President Trump moved into the White House.

Messages coming out of the new administration became vague and guarded. Rumors that Trump may be bringing with him elements of an “ultimate deal” wrought sleepless nights on some of our senior politicians.

But Trump surprised us all.

Israelis need to be loved and Trump showered us with more love than we had ever hoped for: our extraordinary heritage, the ancient, unbreakable ties of the Jewish people to this land and to Jerusalem in particular, the beauty of the country and the generosity of its people, our fabulous achievements.

Politicians on the right side of the political map were relieved: He did not  mention either  a Palestinian state, nor the settlements. It was as if someone had gathered together all in one place all the messages our hasbara had  issued over the years.

But there was disappointment too: No mention of the transfer of the American embassy to Jerusalem; no recognition of Jerusalem as the “eternal capital of Israel”. But yes – we heard time and again the magic words: We have common enemies, Iran will never get nuclear arms, together we will fight terrorism, and America will always have Israel’s back.

For Benjamin Netanyahu this was, no doubt, a gift. After eight ‘lean years’ – years of untold tensions with President Obama and his administration – here comes a President who justifies everything Netanyahu had said, here comes “the best friend” Israel has ever had, a man who calls him “my friend Benjamin”. Here comes an American president who finally shares his vision about Iran and world terrorism and makes those two subjects a priority.

And yet – there is no free lunch, and no free love.

Netanyahu should have reason for concern: The new alliance, the new bond that Trump has fostered with the Sunni world, the multi billion dollars arms deal that he has concluded with Saudi Arabia, has a price, and Israel may have to pay it. Trump understands the connection, the linkage, between this new  alliance, the success of the common struggle against Daesh and radical Islam and the solution of the Palestinian – Israeli conflict. His meetings in Washington and Bethlehem with President Abbas convinced him that there is a partner for peace. 

Moreover, Trump made it clear that he believes there is a real opportunity for peace now, that this is a rare  window of opportunity – and that to achieve peace, both sides will have to make concessions. These were his public statements: no more than a hint, but still, crystal clear.

Trump was cautious enough not to present a blueprint  of his own, perhaps because he has not finalized its outlines, but more probably because the purpose of this trip was to gain everyone’s confidence. And that, he has achieved.

However, hardly had Airforce One lifted from the ground and left the Holy Land, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson briefed the journalists who had accompanied the president on this historic trip :

“The president was very forceful in his encouragement to both of them to be serious about approaching these discussions in the future and recognize they have to compromise, everyone has to compromise…[Trump] put a lot of pressure” on Netanyahu and Abbas “that it’s time to get to the [negotiations] table.” And leaks that started emerging from the closed meetings seem to confirm that.

It is possible that some form of peace process will be renewed in the near future, perhaps as a Peace Summit convened under the auspices of President Trump. Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas will attend. Neither of them has the option of refusing such an invitation. Abbas may drop some of his preconditions for such a summit – but then there is a definite difference between a  summit meeting and a negotiation.

If and when the negotiating process will be resumed, Netanyahu will be, no doubt, torn between the new alliance with America and the need to maintain his coalition. But, after eight years of bad relations with an American president, and his conviction that this is the best friend Israel has had for a long time (since Truman?), he cannot afford to say no. He will have no option but to walk along Trump’s path. He should keep in mind, then,  that a majority of members of Israel’s Knesset will support him.

9 thoughts on “An Iron Fist in a silk, hasbara-lined glove–U.S. President Donald Trump just Delivered a Threat to Netanyahu Wrapped in the Language of Love”
  1. “Abbas may drop some of his pre-conditions for such a summit;” will Netanyahu drop some of his pre-conditions?

  2. Same old same old.
    ” We must define our position and lay down basic principles for a settlement.Our demands should be moderate and balanced, and appear to be reasonable. But in fact they must involve such conditions as to ensure that the enemy rejects them. Then we should manoeuvre and allow him to define his own position, and reject a settlement on the basis of a compromise position. We should then publish his demands as embodying unreasonable extremism.”
    (Yehoshafat Harkabi, 2 November 1973)
    They been playing this game for 140 years, why would they stop now?

  3. What I dont understand is why the austerity budget from Trump. Why did he turn into a fake domestic policy populist??? His backers know that his poor, working poor and middle class voters are pissed….
    In DC politics, you either serve the banks and corporations, or you serve the people. You cant serve both. Trumps domestic campaign rhetoric suggested he would serve the people. Why are his backers allowing him to switch, and serve the interests of corporations and CEO’s????

  4. @Tony,
    You have forgotten that there are in fact 3 powers in USA. The people, The Banks-Corporations (BC) and the Military-Industrial-Complex.(MIC)
    The During Trumps inugral Speech, the MIC gave notice that they had his back. It was-is a war between the BC-Clintonista-MSM and the MIC with the people getting screwed over whichever wins.
    Politicians will say anything to get into power, and do anything to stay in power.
    You didn’t really think that whoever was in the WH would make any difference did you?
    …………………
    “I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is now controlled by its system of credit.We are no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.” — Woodrow Wilson 1919
    “Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men’s views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organised, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.”
    – Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States (1856-1924)
    Colonel Edward Mandell House Predicts the Creation of the STRAWMAN in the US
    By Colonel Edward Mandell House
    Jun 9, 2009 – 6:07:00 AM
    Colonel Edward Mandell House Predicts the Creation of the STRAWMAN in the US
    In a private meeting with Woodrow Wilson (US President 1913 – 1921) Colonel Edward Mandell House predicted the banksters’ plans to enslave the American people. He stated:
    “Very soon, every American will be required to register their biological property (that’s you and your children) in a national system designed to keep track of the people and that will operate under the ancient system of pledging. By such methodology, we can compel people to submit to our agenda, which will affect our security as a charge back for our fiat paper currency.
     
    Every American will be forced to register or suffer not being able to work and earn a living. They will be our chattels (property) and we will hold the security interest over them forever, by operation of the law merchant under the scheme of secured transactions. Americans, by unknowingly or unwittingly delivering the bills of lading (Birth Certificate) to us will be rendered bankrupt and insolvent, secured by their pledges.
     
    They will be stripped of their rights and given a commercial value designed to make us a profit and they will be none the wiser, for not one man in a million could ever figure our plans and, if by accident one or two should figure it out, we have in our arsenal plausible deniability. After all, this is the only logical way to fund government, by floating liens and debts to the registrants in the form of benefits and privileges.
     
    This will inevitably reap us huge profits beyond our wildest expectations and leave every American a contributor to this fraud, which we will call “Social Insurance.” Without realizing it, every American will unknowingly be our servant, however begrudgingly. The people will become helpless and without any hope for their redemption and we will employ the high office (presidency) of our dummy corporation (USA) to foment this plot against America.”

  5. “@Tony,
    You have forgotten that there are in fact 3 powers in USA. The people, The Banks-Corporations (BC) and the Military-Industrial-Complex.(MIC)
    The During Trumps inugral Speech, the MIC gave notice that they had his back. It was-is a war between the BC-Clintonista-MSM and the MIC with the people getting screwed over whichever wins.
    Politicians will say anything to get into power, and do anything to stay in power.
    You didn’t really think that whoever was in the WH would make any difference did you?”
    How do you expect him to get reelected when he turns his back on the people who votes for him, believing he was a populist?

  6. @Tony,
    I don’t expect him to get re-elected.
    I don’t expect him to last 4 years.
    The only thing I am sure of is that whoever is next, will be worse.

  7. “@Tony,
    I don’t expect him to get re-elected.
    I don’t expect him to last 4 years.
    The only thing I am sure of is that whoever is next, will be worse.”
    I hear ya. many are saying that……

  8. All he really has to do is let the $$$ dry up. Is all of this even necessary?

  9. By Trump passing his initiation test into his allegiance to Israel by bombing Syria, Ntjob is obliged to pay respect to his loyalty. Trump is fighting two Jewish factions however as they vie for control of the White House.
    Every day as he has to fight off the impeachment group of liberal progressives he also has to deal with those neocons doing his advising on ever decision affecting the Jews (which is everything). Kushner is his pit bull in the White House as well as his direct Israel connection into the very White House without the need for a secret spy, he is within Trump’s midst, literally. No nation could ask for a better spy connection than Kushner.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Discover more from The Ugly Truth

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading