Trump’s decision to assassinate a leading Iranian official in Iraq yesterday has contributed to the split inside the Israel lobby in the United States. Republican Israel supporters celebrate the killing, and see it as destroying the last hope of saving the Iran deal. Many Democratic supporters of Israel are critical of the decision.
After the Trump administration killed Democratic Iran’s top general Qassem Suleimani in a targeted drone strike, the Democratic presidential candidates rushed to condemn the action. However, nearly every statement reiterated Trump’s justification for the strike: that Suleimani was an evil terrorist and murderer.
Donald Trump has campaigned against “never ending wars.” Tonight with an assassination in Iraq, he risks another one– putting his reelection in jeopardy, say some observers. Trump knows what he is doing, trying to please his biggest donor, Sheldon Adelson.
“Netanyahu should not be allowed to start a war with Iran to save himself,” Haaretz says. Why isn’t this report in the New York Times? Only friendly coverage of Netanyahu’s primary victory against a Likud challenger.
Tom Friedman’s double standard: Israel has a right to shoot demonstrators because that’s how Arab nations behave; but Iran doesn’t. Human rights groups have said Israel deliberately targeted civilians with live fire on the Gaza border though they posed no threat; but Friedman says it’s an “easy” call to defend those shootings.
While Israel wants the world to see Iran behind every conflict and want to see it ostracized and isolated, they may not want Iran defeated because that would eliminate the special role Israel plays for the United States.
The Iran/Saudi Arabia/Yemen crisis may break into war and damage the global economy, but U.S. mainstream media leaves out Israel’s deep involvement.
Israel is risking a dangerous clash with Hezbollah while also alienating a supportive US administration by attacking targets in Iraq. Jonathan Cook looks at what Benjamin Netanyahu may be looking to accomplish.
A New York Times article on on Israel’s recent attacks across the Middle East rattled on for 43 paragraphs without a single mention of Netanyahu’s incentive to sabotage the possible Trump-Iran detente. Is this deliberate bias — or just incompetence?
Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden gave a speech outlining his foreign policy objectives in which he stated that the United States must stand with Israel despite the disagreements some Democrats have with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.