Look, a squirrel!
The prospect of New York City Mayor Mamdani arresting Netanyahu is a “Look, there’s a squirrel!” moment, distracting people who care about Israel from what really matters. Spoiler alert: the NYPD is not going to arrest Netanyahu, but gigawatts of data center energy will be used to store the posts about it.
Meanwhile, the fire sale of Israel’s core security interests by the Trump administration proceeds with near silence from Israel and pro-Israel institutions and commentators:
- Accepting Hamas as the ruling authority in Gaza.
- Dictating Israel’s military posture in Lebanon.
- Failing to find an exit strategy from the war with Iran, which is threatening Israel and the whole region.
- Embracing Islamist regimes, like Turkey and Qatar, and making weapons deals that bring them closer to parity with Israel.
- Suggesting that the former ISIS leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa “would be more precise than Israel’ in confronting Hezbollah.
- Blatant, derogatory and dismissive statements by the president (“Bibi will do what I tell him to”) and vice president (Israeli ministers shouldn’t “be attacking the only powerful ally” they have left, and accusing Israel of manipulating US public opinion and sabotaging negotiations with Iran).
Much of what people fear from the anti-Israel left is being done by the MAGA right. Imagine the outrage if Kamala Harris had been elected president and did any one of these things?
And yet, the Israeli government, opposition and pro-Israel organizations in the US are eerily silent. Why? It seems that each has its own political interest, leading it not to call out the unprecedented shift in America’s posture toward Israel and the Middle East.
- Netanyahu’s calling card has been his relationship with and ability to influence Trump. Highlighting how this has blown up in Israel’s face ahead of October’s elections is incomprehensible.
- The Israeli opposition uses the issue as a cudgel against Netanyahu, and calling out the American administration would dilute that message. And, their early support for the Iran war would highlight their own strategic myopia.
- AIPAC has, of course, made its bed with the right wing in both countries and is AWOL in what should be the fight of its life.
- J Street – given a perfect opportunity to demonstrate that it advocates for Israel’s security while criticizing its government’s actions – has made cutting and conditioning US military aid to Israel its flagship issue, with barely a critical word to spare for how the US is failing to consider Israeli security.
- Grassroots, online supporters of Israel get more likes, shares and dopamine hits trashing Mamdani and shadow boxing with the woke, free Palestine crowd than rallying around thorny but monumental security issues.
Forty-five years ago, the Reagan administration’s sale of just five AWACs command and control aircraft to Saudi Arabia met massive opposition from Israel and pro-Israel constituencies that literally poured into the streets. Today, a realignment of American policy away from Israel elicits barely a whimper.
These are the things that pro-Israel Americans should be focused on and fighting against, not another Mamdani red herring.
