Borscht Belt Proclamation of Brooklyn Bridge Peace Deal
As I watched all those beautiful people dancing in Hostage Square, wearing tee shirts with the names and images of loved ones being released from Hamas captivity, this thought came to mind: how lucky is Trump that Bibi bombed Qatar. It allowed Trump, who has put goons on American streets and decreed the right to summarily blow people up in small boats to smell a Nobel that he would deserve about as much as Assad to pressure Bibi into allowing him, that is to say Trump, not Netanyahu, to declare an end to the war in return for the hostages plus, “Details of Peace to Follow”. Maybe.
I’ll actually credit Trump for this: only the Undisputed World Heavyweight Champ of BS could line up leaders of Europe and the Arab states grinning behind him yesterday as he held forth at the podium in Sharm El-Sheikh, equal parts huckster and Borscht Belt insult comic, and proclaim the Brooklyn Bridge of peace deals. The “greatest in history”, as to which not a word is written, and nothing has been committed. His props for this pitch on a flag-draped diorama included Britain’s Starmer, who has to know better, smiling like an idiot as Trump in one deft move asked him to come forward and elbowed him back to his place among the other embarrassed-looking European leaders. The more locals included his compliant Egyptian host, al-Sisi, proudly referred to by Trump as his “friend since 2016” and “favorite dictator”, possibly for having ferried $10 million in cash from an Egyptian bank late in Trump’s 2016 campaign, shortly thereafter becoming the recipient of more than a billion dollars in “military aid” from the new US President. He knows there’s more where that came from, as do the magnanimous leaders of Qatar who have already “donated” a lightly-used 747 to Trump himself and the rest of the Oil Sheiks who have recently handed billions to Trump’s businesses and his family in return for nobody yet knows what.
This was “the Art of the Deal”, only what’s the deal? Is there even a deal?. I suspect what deal this real estate developer posing as a statesman is really interested in, because he has already basically told us, involves using Other People’s Money to build a Vegas-style Dome of the Rock Casino (has to be a golden dome) on a “Gaza Riviera”. As for every other facet of the 20-point “plan”, Trump will walk away next week just like he did after his Putin summit and the Ukraine peace deal (the one that so far involves nothing but a scheme to grab Ukraine’s rare earth minerals). That leaves the countries invited to participate on the “Board of Peace” (whatever that is) to maneuver amongst each other for their own “piece” of Gaza’s waterfront, utilities, or natural resources. Do you really think this crew of altruists like the President of Indonesia, a land rather far removed from the Middle East, caught on a hot mic huddling on the sidelines with Trump about a business deal, are willing to sink a ton of money into Gaza for nothing in return? Especially if they likely to have to fight an insurrection by Hamas, which has promised zero past the prisoner swap.
And therein lies the rather obvious problem Israel must come to grips with. Just like the other six or is it seven wars, whose participants Trump can’t properly name but credits himself, contrary to what they themselves say, with having settled (see, “Armenia vs. Azerbania”), there are sure to be years if not decades more of strife that Trump has left in everyone else’s lap while he continues on his merry way. Hamas will not rid themselves of a single bullet or weapon they will continue to secrete in the tunnels, not to mention voluntarily relinquish physical or political control of the Gazan masses.
The Gaza Peace Deal (using caps and exclamation points in tribute to guess who) is a MIRAGE!!!
