Diana Buttu on how Trump’s ‘Israel first’ Cabinet picks and Netanyahu’s settler ambassador signal West Bank annexation is more likely than ever before.
People in Tel Aviv pass by a congratulatory billboard showing Trump on Nov. 7, 2024. Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images
In major Israeli cities, including Haifa, where I live, “Trump/Vance 2024” campaign signs have been quickly replaced by signs congratulating Donald Trump on his election victory. “Make Israel Great,” reads one sign. “Now is the Time For Sovereignty,” reads another (referring to Israeli annexation of the West Bank), with an image of the Star of David over the occupied West Bank and a picture of Trump.
On the day after this month’s US election, my Israeli neighbor – a member of the so-called “left” – was giddy. “Finally, someone who will be good for us!” she said.
I was puzzled. “I don’t understand. Are you saying that Biden was bad for Israel?” I was certain that she would answer “no” to my (rhetorical) question given that the US has funded more than 70% of the weaponry used in this genocide and given that it has provided Israel with endless diplomatic cover.
My certainty was misplaced. “Yes! He was horrible. He allowed the world to criticize Israel,” she said. Lost on her – and on the rest of Israel – is that the world is critical because of the genocide and war crimes the country is carrying out. But, as I have written about before, Israelis are oblivious to what they have done and continue to do to Palestinians. All that matters to them is how they are perceived globally, irrespective of what they do to Palestinians. They do not care that their government is committing genocide; they are just angry that the world is not fully supporting them as they do it.
Netanyahu Taps Hardline Settler Activist
With Trump as president for a second time, Netanyahu is going for gold.
He will push for the full closure of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) and will either keep the strangle on or kill the Palestinian Authority – whichever is more expedient for him. But the big item on Netanyahu’s wishlist this time around is annexation, and who better to push for it than the newly appointed Israeli ambassador to the United States, who happens to be… wait for it… both an American and reportedly a former member of a group that was for years deemed by the FBI to be a terrorist organization.
Born in Pennsylvania, Yechiel Leiter in his youth was a member of the Jewish Defense League (JDL), per the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. The US-based organization was later listed on the FBI terrorist list for carrying out more than a dozen bombings and planning others, including a plot to bomb a field office of Congressman Darrell Issa (who is of Lebanese descent). It was removed from the list in 2022 due to inactivity.
Baruch Goldstein, the man who massacred 29 Palestinians in 1994 in Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque, was a member of the JDL, with the organization reportedly announcing, “We are not ashamed to say that Goldstein was a charter member of the Jewish Defense League.” Leiter was also a member of the Israeli Kach party. Both the JDL and Kach were established by Rabbi Meir Kahane, a Jewish supremacist who called for the enslavement and expulsion of Palestinians and who was even outlawed by Israel for being fascist (given how fascist Israel is, Kach surpassed a very high bar).
When Leiter moved to Israel, he went to live as a settler in the heart of Hebron, where hundreds of settlers terrorize Palestinians daily. Leiter was subsequently appointed as “mayor” of the illegal settlement, per reports, and helped establish the Hebron Fund Inc., which has raised millions of tax-deductible dollars in the US to fund Israeli settlement activity in Hebron. He later reportedly moved to another settlement in the occupied West Bank. His appointment by Netanyahu sends a clear message: the settlements are here to stay.
“Make Israel Great(er)”
Trump’s nominees –from Marco Rubio for secretary of state to Pete Hegseth for Pentagon chief – are shaping up to help fulfill Netanyahu’s wishlist. Far from being an “America First” group, the nominees have, to date, one common thread: “Israel First.” And while Netanyahu plans for his wishlist to be fulfilled in the hope that he will avoid domestic prosecution, the so-called Israeli “left” continues to flail, as they always have.
More than a year into Israel’s genocide, the “left” has yet to utter a word about it – about Israeli war crimes, about the legality of blowing up people carrying pagers, about bombing another country. It has yet to make statements about Netanyahu’s ongoing starvation of Palestinians in the north of Gaza and the plans on the part of Israeli settlers to build settlements in Gaza. Instead, they are too busy kicking out members of the actual left for daring to say a word in opposition to the war and passing even more laws that further highlight just how fascist Israel is.
Billboards bear the flags of the US and Israel with a message in support of Trump on buildings in Tel Aviv on Oct. 30, 2024. Photo by Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images
This week, opposition leader Yair Lapid unveiled his “plan” to end Israel’s attacks in Gaza and Lebanon. His plan isn’t even worth reporting on because it is like every other “plan” that has ever been put forward by any Israeli official: expansionist, racist, and laden with Israeli control over Palestinian and Lebanese lives and land. But while Lapid’s plan is a big yawn, his comments regarding the ICC’s move to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant were fascinating.
A member of the true opposition would have used the arrest warrants to ostracize these two individuals for carrying out war crimes, for (forever) staining the image of the country and declaring them unfit to lead. Instead, in true (non) opposition fashion, Lapid and virtually everyone else in the country came out in unison, rushing to Netanyahu’s and Gallant’s defense, chastising the court for daring to indict Israeli leaders for practically wiping Gaza off the map, for killing and wounding 10% of Gaza’s population, for starving Palestinians, for attacking hospitals and schools and for inflicting untold damage to generations of Palestinians.
So, with a settler serving as the ambassador to the US, an “Israel First” Trump Cabinet, a non-existent opposition in Israel, and international inaction (apart from handwringing) over what to do about Netanyahu’s arrest warrant as well as all of the above, settlers, and many other Israelis, are rejoicing more than ever before, for they will push to finally Make Israel Great(er) – in size.
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