“You’re the only reason that I’m here. You saved my life.”
That’s what Edan Alexander said to Donald Trump in the video above, released by the White House. Edan, and particularly his mother, have taken a lot of heat on Israeli social media for thanking Donald Trump and not Benjamin Netanyahu. It might have been an oversight—but perhaps not.
Either way, having a just-released hostage say to the President, “You’re the only reason that I’m here” couldn’t have sat well with the Prime Minister (who since then has announced that he’s willing to end the Gaza War as long as Trump Gaza relocation plan is implemented—which is another way of saying he’s not willing to end the war).
In general, it’s been a rocky couple of weeks for the famous bromance, which culminated in a report—that the White House is of course denying—that the US warned Israel to end the war, or else ….
A White House official either did say it or didn’t say it. It either is what Trump feels and is planning, or it’s not. We’ll know eventually, or we won’t. Such is the nature of the leaders in question.
Either way, Israel’s international standing, even according to the internal Israeli Hebrew press, is nearing an all-time low. Consider, for example, this headline from Tuesday on YNet:
Large black headline: The US is keeping quiet, the the sanctions are intensifying: the road to Israel’s diplomatic nadir
Smaller black subheader: Israel’s international stature is collapsing, and damage to the economy could reach billions. Three international powers issues an unprecedented threat—and Britain has already acted on them. In the US, the decision was made not to come to Israel’s support: “Trump is frustrated.”
Two bullet points at the bottom:
Israeli negotiating team returns from Qatar: “there were no real negotiations”
A 10-fold increase in the number of humanitarian aid trucks; the UN: “they never reached us.”
To share a sense of how the complex relationship between Israel and the US, between Bibi and Trump has become, we’ll close off this week by sharing a photo that went a bit viral on Israeli social media.
A protester in favor of ending the war and getting the hostages out, herself dressed with a gag over her mouth and her arms tied in ropes, is holding an astonishing sign.
Why is it astonishing? Because while I don’t know anything at all about the woman in the picture, the political “right” is mostly not present at these protests. So we can fairly assume that she’s not on the right (though of course we can’t be certain).
And what is she saying? The word TRUST, if you look carefully, is composed of photographs of hostages. The hostage families believe—again, rightly or wrongly, I’m not taking a stand—that if there’s any hope for their loved ones who are now being held captive by Hamas’ barbarians, that hope is the leader of the United States, not the leader of Israel.
Talk about ironies. Talk about politics and bedfellows. People in Israel on the left and in the center, hardly the ones one would expect to be singing Donald Trump’s praises, are doing exactly that.
Next week promises to be interesting. Of course, most weeks here are.
Share this post