https://x.com/MouinRabbani/status/2067768372310245760
People are understandably skeptical and even dismissive of the latest spat between the US and Israel.
It is after all no more than a war of words, with no serious indication it has or will result in a change of policy by Washington towards Israel. Certainly not as of today.
This notwithstanding, what we are witnessing this week is fundamentally different than yet another article by Barak Ravid that the US leadership is furious with Israel. This time, the message is coming straight from the horse’s mouth, most prominently from none other than Trump and Vance.
This is already politically significant for an important reason. It may not directly affect US policy towards Israel, but for decades Israel has very successfully traded on the image that it is all-powerful in Washington, that the road to the White House runs through Tel Aviv.
Many governments accordingly make nice with Israel and acquiesce to its every demand not out of any loyalty to or affinity with Israel, but because they have successfully been persuaded by Israel that if they disobey it, they will incur the wrath of Washington and get nothing from it.
When such governments witness not only the various statements critical of Israel by the most senior US officials, but just as importantly the hysteria of Israeli leaders that they have been abandoned by Washington and that the US has become a Saudi-Qatari colony, they will factor this into their foreign policies.
If, in the coming weeks, the US forces Israel to withdraw from Lebanon, for example, and engages seriously with Iran over persistently loud Israeli objections, it sends a very clear message. That message is that relations with the US can be pursued bilaterally, or even via other governments, and Israel can be safely ignored.
Israel’s leadership seems to have become delusional to the point of believing that it is the senior partner in the relationship with the US. If it continues to act this way, it will ultimately reveal itself to be a paper tiger, with the consequences this entails.
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