VIDEO: Vice president Vance: “If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have left Anywhere in the entire world. 2/3 of the defensive (sic) weapons that have protected your homeland have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars.” pic.twitter.com/q2PTYNqvch” / Xhttps://t.co/oauwtcY7sF
At a White House press conference, Vice-President Vance offered a blistering lecture to ministers in the Netanyahu cabinet who are bitching and moaning about the Iran ceasefire deal, saying it betrays Israel’s interests. His message followed a kinder, gentler reproach from Trump himself, which I posted about yesterday. They seem to be playing bad cop-worse cop. Trump says it gently (but firmly) and Vance lets loose. I cannot recall such a one-two punch in the history of the Israel-US relationship, back to the 1948 founding of the state. There have been incidents of tension and conflict–during the Eisenhower administration and the first Bush presidency. And presidents have railed privately against Netanyahu. But never on the world stage and never like this:
Vance lectures “ungrateful” Israeli ministers
“…It does bother me is that you’ve seen people within Bibi’s cabinet who’ve come out and attacked the deal; and in some ways very personally attacked the President of the United States. My message to them would be two-fold: number one, Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time. And he happens to be the head of state of the world’s superpower. If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have aywhere left in the entire world.
The second message I would give and [to] some of these cabinet members in Israel–and to his credit Bibi has not gone down this path–but to some of these cabinet members who are attacking the President of the United States…the other thing that I would say is that over the last three months two-thirds of the defensive (sic) weapons that have protected your homeland have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars. The problem in Israel is not Donald J. Trump. And anybody who thinks their biggest problem is the President of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in.”
He further echoed his boss’ press conference statement yesterday, but in starker terms:
…My response to them [Ben Gvir and Smotrich] would be: What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of nine million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have…
As I wrote yesterday, this is not just a wake-up call for Israel and its far-right leaders many of whom are shaking in their boots, it is a watershed moment in American politics. If Trump and Vance can speak in these harsh terms to Israel, then any senator, member of Congress or president can do so as well. No Republican would yet dare to break with Israel so publicly. But there are scores of Democratic leaders who are eager to do so. This follows a developing trend of sharp criticism of Israeli genocide and regional forever wars into which Israel has dragged the US.
While it’s true that Trump has innoculated himself with the pro-Israel vaccine in his first term, by conveying to Israel gifts on a silver platter which had been denied to it by previous presidents. But now he is withdrawing that capital from the Bank of Zionism.
There is very little Netanyahu can do. He is boxed in, a situation he hates. He prides himself on being able to wiggle out of such predicaments: he’s pressured. He agrees. Then waffles. Then renegs. Just when you thought you had a deal, it evaporates in front of you. Driving his interlocutor mad. But this is classic Bibi–the weasel.
However, now Trump has him by the shorthairs. There is, for the time being (and perhaps forever), no escape. He cannot attack Iran, though he bluffs and blusters about doing so. He cannot (yet) resume attacks on Lebanon. Trump has made very clear that the MOU includes Lebanon. No matter how many times Bibi claims it doesn’t. The proof will be in the coming weeks. Will the Israeli leader test Trump with new attacks in Lebanon? And if he does, will the president come down on him like a ton of bricks?
For the first time in my lifetime, I feel somewhat confident that a US president will not fold in the face of Israeli obduracy. If so, we are entering entirely new territory. This is a brave new world and a tenuous situation for Israel. It presents options that are from bad to worse. Instead of being the regional hegemon, ruthlessly pursuing its interests through overwhelming force, it is now threatening to become a state like any other. With interests it must pursue in competition with its regional rivals. For Israelis this is a “how the mighty have fallen” moment. Used to supremacy, they now face becoming one of many.
As I wrote yesterday, will Israel draw the right lesson and adapt to its new status? Will it accept reduced expectations? Will it integrate into the region instead of dominate it? Or will it reject playing second fiddle? Will it continue down the path of perpetual war fought by a garrison state? If the latter, Israel must know that a time will come in the very near future when the US will not be there for it. As Vance reminded it, the most powerful and advanced weaponry with which it fights its wars do not come from Israeli weapons plants; but from American ones. Once you’ve lost that, you’ve lost the game.
