Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Netanyahu Plays Trump and American Jews for Fools — Again

Israel's accelerating attempts toward annexation of the West Bank and to permanently remain in Gaza " and deny Palestinians political rights in both areas " are as morally reckless and demographically insane as would be the U.S. annexing Mexico. If it were just Israelis who were going to be hurt by the crazy fantasy that some seven million Israeli Jews can control about seven million Palestinian Arabs in perpetuity, I might be tempted to say that if Israel's leaders want to commit national suicide, I can't stop them. But the effects will not be confined to Israel. I believe that this messianically driven endeavor will make today's Israel permanently indistinguishable from apartheid South Africa and will have seriously detrimental implications for both American interests and the interests and security of Jews all over the world

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Iran is not the greatest threat to Israel as a democracy governed by the rule of law. It is not the greatest threat to U.S.-Israeli relations. It is not the greatest threat to the unity and security of Jews around the world. It is not the reason so many talented Israeli technologists, engineers and doctors are moving away. And it is not the biggest reason Israel is becoming an apartheid state by not only refusing to try anymore to create a separate Palestinian state but by working instead to make that impossible.

That title goes to the government of messianic zealots, Arab-hating nationalists and anti-modern ultra-Orthodox Israelis put together by Benjamin Netanyahu to keep himself in power.

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"While keeping Trump focused on the Iranian missile and nuclear threat " which, though reduced, is still very real and will have to be dealt with diplomatically or militarily " Bibi is fundamentally threatening broader U.S. interests in the Middle East, not to mention the security of Jews all over the world. In what way?" Thomas Friedman asks. "I cannot put it any more succinctly than Ehud Olmert, the former Israeli prime minister, did."

"A violent and criminal effort is underway to ethnically cleanse territories in the West Bank," he wrote in an essay in Haaretz this month. "Gangs of armed settlers persecute, harm, wound and even kill Palestinians living there. The rampages include burning olive groves, houses and cars; breaking into homes; and physically assaulting people." He continued: "The rioters, the Jewish terrorists, storm Palestinians with hate and violence with one objective: to force them to flee from their homes. All this is done in the hopes that the land will then be prepared for Jewish settlement, en route to realizing the dream of annexing all the territories."

#1 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-02-18 06:06 AM

Hi Doc Sarvis:

Thanks for posting.

Israel is a country I no longer recognize and I'm never going back.

Israel recorded its first net migration loss last year because of the bellicose Likud regime.

Israelis have been filling out paperwork at German consulates and embassies in order to emigrate there by proving their ancestors were once citizens.

Israel has been cited as the greatest cause of instability in the Middle East by the analysts at Responsible Statecraft

The sooner the Democratic Party of JFK, FDR, and Zohran Mamdani rids itself of AIPAC and that dibbuk Bibi Netanyahu, the sooner we can oust the nefarious Trumpf junta and Republicans from power on Tuesday 3 Nov 2026.

BTW: Many academics avoid reading Thomas Friedman for manifest reasons. He is the Alan Dershowitz of journalists; his awards and accolades be damned. This is a book I lend out to friends.


#2 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-02-18 06:38 AM

Archived link (no paywall): archive.ph

#3 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-02-18 06:41 AM

"Israel is a country I no longer recognize and I'm never going back."

The assassination of Rabin by an ultra nationalist Zionist was a far right political revolution in Israel.

#4 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-02-18 06:59 AM

Yup, that was a shot heard 'round the world.

I remember the Oslo peace plans and how Israel and Palestine could have shared the land for both their benefits.

Israel has large elevated highways and the idea was to construct such a fenced in 20-mile superhighway linking the West Bank and Gaza.

The Palestinian security forces were to patrol the elevated roadway to ensure no vandalism, but a stainless steel mesh fence was supposed to cocoon it anyway.

Israelis wouldn't see the Palestinians up there and vice versa.

Israel would have continued getting the cheap labor from the Gaza Strip and Palestinian farmers in the West Bank could have hired Gazans as well.

And Israel could have had better relations with its Arab and Iranian neighbors. The theocratic regime in Iran wouldn't have had to counterattack Israel every time the IDF decimated the Palestinians.

The cost of that bridge in 1994 or 1995 would have been far cheaper than the billions and billions of dollars hardworking American taxpayers have been forking over to Israel since 1948.

More importantly, how many lives from both sides could have been saved?


#5 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-02-18 08:02 AM

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