What Would the Trump Administration Not Do for Israel:

A Brief Look at AIPAC, Mahmoud Khalil, the Houthis, and Iran?

Much has been going on in the United States-supported Israeli war against Gaza, and it is no surprise that the corporate media and American officials have continued to paint the picture that the Israeli government is perfect and just in all of its actions and that the defenders of Palestinian human rights are evil and violent. Of course, this is a simplistic view, and in order to keep the war against Gaza brewing and stand with Israel, the Donald Trump administration has supported Israel’s breach of the ceasefire agreement with Gaza, attempted to deport a pro-Palestinian student, and attacked the Houthis in Yemen with missiles. Instead of trying to end hostilities and American taxpayers’ funding for the removal of the Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip (genocide by any definition), the United States government has doubled down on its support for Israel.

Roughly one month and a half ago, in a statement for a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump made it clear that he has no desire to allow the Gazan people to live under a self-governing Palestinian state and that the strip of land on the Mediterranean Sea would be better used as a resort town with hotels, restaurants, and luxury homes than it would to remain as a warzone where people struggle for basic necessities. Although this was just a statement, and the idea that American troops would be deployed to Gaza seems unlikely, Americans should not have to support this removal of civilians from their homes (again, this is genocide).

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas had been in place for about two months, and Israel decided that it would break the peace deal and start bombing Gaza with airstrikes that killed roughly 400 people in a single day of bombardment (subsequent days have led to more destruction, as a hospital was recently demolished, and Israel has gone back to bombing Hezbollah in Lebanon). This slaughter was done because apparently six high-ranking Hamas officials happened to be in the vicinity of residential areas (the entirety of the Gaza Strip is largely residential), and even though hundreds of woman and children were killed and had their homes destroyed, Prime Minister Netanyahu made it clear that this was “only the beginning.” Israel is never held accountable or asked to justify how it concluded that a certain building or neighborhood was being utilized by Hamas as a military base, and for all we know, Israeli officials could be lying and bombing civilians for the purpose of displacing the population. There is a special place in hell for people like Netanyahu who would so easily disregard human lives and livelihoods, and, as you know, civilians pose such a grave threat to one of the most powerful militaries on earth. With such a sophisticated intelligence and special forces network, an Israeli team could easily perform covert operations to take out Hamas leaders lurking throughout the densely-populated cities, but no, Israel has to indiscriminately bomb and destroy everything in the region. It is clear from the eagerness to break the ceasefire that Netanyahu has no plans for peace and will not stop until the entire Gazan population is cleared out of the way so that he can annex the territory for himself.

Already, it is estimated that 50,021 Gazans have been killed in a war that started because Hamas (a government that was narrowly elected eighteen years ago and then violently took over Gaza from Fatah and has ruled by force ever since) executed 1,200 Israelis (and kidnapped several others) on October 7, 2023; and roughly 90% of the Gazan population has been displaced (it is uncertain whether these 1.8 million or so people will be allowed to return home). It is easy to sit in the United States and say that the Palestinians have what is coming to them, but if Americans were at the receiving end of bombs, they might change their tune. The reality of the situation is that Palestinians cannot choose what Hamas does any more than Americans are able to control the direction of the federal government in the United States (governments act independently of the people and against the will of those who live under their power).

As a thought experiment, let us say that the United States government (choose your administration: Bush, Obama, Biden, or Trump) decided to send a covert team to Beijing to kidnap and kill a thousand or so Chinese citizens. Would you say that Americans were to blame, or would it be the federal government that was responsible? As a result of this reckless action, the Chinese government decided to bomb five select cities in the United States and destroy civilian buildings and infrastructure and kill 10,000 people in each city, and in the process, your neighborhood was completely destroyed. When you were desperate and homeless, would you believe the Chinese government when it said that American officials were hiding among the populace and that that gave it the justification to slaughter thousands of your neighbors? Or, would you turn to revenge and vow to fight China, even if it meant siding with the United States government that caused the issue in the first place? If you would find the actions of China abhorrent, you should ask yourself why you give Israel a pass to conduct the same type of operations against the Palestinians. Because the United States is the world’s policeman and hegemon, Americans have a really hard time putting themselves in the shoes of people who live in weaker nations, but we really need to start thinking in those terms.

Americans have been propagandized into believing that all Palestinians hate Jews and Israelis and that they all support Hamas, but the truth is that Israel has been bombing Gaza and cutting off supplies and aid for many years (even prior to 2023), so Hamas is the only entity fighting for the people, even if they are doing so recklessly. It is difficult for Americans to fully understand the totality of what is going on, as the propaganda shows a pro-Israeli bias that is supported by both Republicans and Democrats. This is mainly because of the Israeli lobby, the largest group of which is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and it has a strong grip on the policy decisions that are made by American politicians. These lobby groups acting on behalf of a foreign nation ensure that the United States keeps sending money to Israel and that Americans never move in a direction that is unfavorable to Israel’s interests (thus, the reason that Americans are brainwashed to support Israel, sometimes even above their own country).

AIPAC has spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying Congress and using its political action committees (PACs) to contribute toward preferred candidates and run campaigns against anyone not friendly enough to Israel. From Chuck Schumer to Hakeem Jeffries to Joe Biden to Steve Scalise to Mitch McConnell to Mike Johnson to Ted Cruz, AIPAC has purchased American politicians and ensured that nobody runs astray from support of this foreign nation. In fact, AIPAC successfully launched a $15 million campaign against Jamaal Bowman (Cori Bush and Ilhan Omar have also been targeted), thus overthrowing him from New York’s 16^th House of Representatives District, and although I do not agree with much of what Bowman’s progressive platform stood for, the fact that a lobby group for a foreign nation ended his political career is a problem.

Similarly, AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project bought $300,000 in advertisements on Fox News to oust Republican Thomas Massie (and turn conservatives against him) because he stayed principled and refused to vote for funding Israel’s ongoing war. Although this effort against Massie was unsuccessful, AIPAC’s war against him has most likely not ended. In fact, Massie later revealed on Tucker Carlson’s podcast that every Republican member of the House of Representatives (except for himself because he banned AIPAC from his office) has an “AIPAC person” that acts as a “babysitter” to ensure that he or she is not voting against the interests of Israel. In other words, American politicians are required to get approval from an Israeli lobby group in order to vote in the affirmative on bills that would benefit Americans. Therefore, the only conclusion is that American politicians are bought by a foreign government. This is anti-American, period. There is no other way to look at this. If France or Canada or the United Kingdom or Turkey or Iran had similar lobby groups, Americans would be rightly outraged, but because we have been conditioned to love Israel above everything else (an idol), we shrug this off like it is no big deal. Even worse, if you speak out against this type of action, you are labelled as a danger to the United States or anti-Semitic (which is ironic because Palestinians are also Semites, so hating them would actually be considered anti-Semitic; and most who speak out against Israel are in opposition to the policies of a government and not the Jewish people).

Speaking of being labelled a danger to the United States, look at what happened to the protesters on college campuses, and as a result, the House of Representatives passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act to prevent people from speaking out against even the actions of the Israeli government. American police are in effect squashing the free speech of pro-Palestinian protests on behalf of a foreign government (Israel), and even though you may not like the message that these protesters are spreading, we live in the United States, not the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, or North Korea. You are free to speak your mind, no matter what the content entails. Advocating for the protesters to be arrested or locked away because of their speech makes you opposed to the First Amendment, regardless of how you want to frame this (we are not talking about those who vandalize property, as they should be charged accordingly).

The most recent incident involved Mahmoud Khalil, who is a Columbia University graduate student and green card holder with permanent residency in the United States, being detained by the Trump administration’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) because of his organization of a pro-Palestinian protest, and after being briefly held in New Jersey, he was transported far away to Louisiana (authorities would not hold him close to his home because of a bogus claim of a bed bug infestation). It was argued that his actions caused harm to American foreign policy under the Immigration and Nationality Act, but he has not been charged with any crime (a necessity under the United States Constitution), nor is it clear how his actions were aligned with Hamas, caused the harassment of Jewish students, or affected relations with any foreign nation (except again, Israel does not like the protests, and as we established, Israel has bought American politicians, including Donald Trump). President Trump, giving into his authoritarian tendencies, stated that this was the “first arrest of many to come.” Furthermore, the administration would like to force those applying for citizenship or green cards to show the federal government their social media accounts as a requirement, and if you are an advocate for the First Amendment, this should be appalling to you. Do we have free speech, or do we not? You can hate Palestinians all that you want and think that the protesters are pigs, but free speech is free speech, regardless of what is being said. We do not violate that principle in order to appease a foreign nation that has no regard for Americans’ well-being.

Speaking of appeasing Israel, President Trump restarted a new crusade against the Houthis in Yemen (so much for the campaign promise of no new wars), killing fifty-three people (including women and children) across forty airstrikes. The Houthis, which have stood in solidarity with Palestinians, were actually abiding by the Israeli-Gazan ceasefire and were not attacking any more ships in the Red Sea that originated from or were bound for Israel, but that ended with the Trump administration’s act of aggression. In response, the Houthis launched eighteen missiles and drones at the USS Harry Truman, and the United States government pledged that the Houthis “will be completely annihilated.” Furthermore, President Trump threatened Iran and stated that any attacks by its ally, the Houthis, would be considered an act of war (this is like saying that Russia, China, North Korea, or Iran should declare war against the United States because of the actions of Ukraine, Taiwan, South Korea, or Israel).

Of course, Israel has wanted the United States to engage in a war with Iran for many years, and with the Persian nation out of the way, nuclear-armed Israel would be free to dominate the Middle East as the primary military power. However, the United States going to war on Israel’s behalf would be detrimental to the many men and women who would be killed in a pointless war of pride, and additionally, this would possibly escalate the global conflict that is on the verge of erupting and exploding us into World War III. As discussed many times before, the Biden administration was bent on starting a hot war with Russia by bringing us into World War III over Ukraine, but the Trump administration is doing the same type of thing over Gaza and Israel (to be fair, a Kamala Harris regime would have also unconditionally supported Israel and potentially brought us into conflict with Iran). When will Americans wake up and realize that the United States is being played by a foreign actor that is deemed as God’s chosen nation (modern-day Israel is not the same Israel as the Bible tells Christians to revere)? It is clear that American politicians care more about the interests of Israel than they do their own constituents, and this is something that none of us should accept.

Thank you for reading, and please check out my book, The Global Bully, and website.