<THREAD> Shabat Shalom! I am in Israel visiting family and I came across this brilliant analysis by @ChemiShalev @haaretzcom on Trump, MbS, Bibi and the stakes for Israel. I recommend you read it all. But I'll give you the highlights in a thread, below. 1/ haaretz.com/israel-news/.p…
Bibi backs MbS, @ChemiShalev writes. "Netanyahu and his aides, led by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Ron Dermer, have been working around the clock to protect Trump and to prevent his administration from 'throwing out the prince with the bathwater,' as Dermer put it." 2/
"Netanyahu has volunteered to serve as Trump’s human shield to protect him from widespread demands by both Democrats and Republicans to punish the crown prince and his kingdom for the Khashoggi assassination," he says. 3/
Trump seems to be thinking the same way. "Trump had no hesitation about deploying whatever remains of Israel’s good name as a political Iron Dome. On Thursday night he asserted, 'Israel would be in a lot of trouble without Saudi Arabia.'" 4/
Trump clearly wants to play the Israel card. "Israel, Trump assumes, is the magic word that will ensure the support of Evangelicals, who will in turn mitigate the harsh positions taken by some Republican Senators, especially Lindsey Graham, against the Saudi crown prince." 5/
But the Democrats are now back in power. While this may work with the old guard, @ChemiShalev correctly notes the new generation, including many of the members now coming into the House, have a very different relationship with Israel and, for that matter, AIPAC. 6/
They, "have grown up with an Israel that is mentioned mainly in connection with its 51-year-old occupation of the Palestinian territories, its steady slide into the ranks of abhorrent anti-democratic, ethnocentric autocracies and its growing estrangement from American Jews." 7/
This is certainly true of my Jewish children, who love Israel, but not its current government or its brutal occupation. @brhodes made a similar point at the beginning of a recent @PodSavetheWorld episode. 8/ crooked.com/podcast/global…
How will Dems talk about Israel in the House now and in the 2020 elections, in light of Bibi's actions? "In the past," @brhodes said, "you tending to just be reflexively supportive of the Israeli government. But these things run contrary to our values." 9/ crooked.com/podcast/global…
Then there is the wreck of a peace plan Trump pretends to have. "Bottom line," says @ChemiShalev "is that even the friendliest U.S. president in human history, as Netanyahu often describes him, is carrying a ticking time bomb that could soon blow up in the prime minister’s face.
But read his piece yourself. There is a lot more in there worth pondering. Shalom. 12/12 haaretz.com/israel-news/.p…
