US – Israel post-victory bickering, by Ochereome Nnanna

Together, they went to fight and defeat a common enemy, the Islamic Republic of Iran. But they came out of it bickering. The United States of America and the Jewish State of Israel enjoy what both sides term an “unbreakable bond.” This bond developed organically after US President Harry Truman summarily recognised the State of Israel when it declared its independence in 1948.

Israel earned the respect and friendship of America through intelligence wizardry and military invincibility. As America and the former Soviet Union were locked in a feisty Cold War after World War II, Israel systematically defeated all its neighbouring adversaries war after war; feats that bordered on the miraculous. Israel became the anchor of America’s strategic interests in the Middle East.

Each country had its interests for going into the Iran wars. America was determined to deny Iran its nuclear ambition. President Donald Trump also named “regime change” as his vital objective. He even promised the embattled Iranian people, “Help is on its way.” As the war wore on, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz and plunged the world’s economies into difficulties. In reprisal, America exerted an asphyxiating blockade of Iranian ports, and named the reopening of Hormuz as one of its terms for a ceasefire.

Israel also had the elimination of the Iranian nuclear ambition at the top of its priorities, but there were other equally important items. Unlike the United States, which faces virtually no existential threat except a possible nuclear attack, Israel lives among Muslim neighbours who are commonly committed to its erasure from the map of the Middle East. Apart from the nuclear threat, Iran had surrounded Israel with a “ring of fire” of Islamic terrorist proxies in Gaza (Hamas), Lebanon (Hassan Nasrallah’s Hezbollah), Syria (the deposed Bashar al-Assad regime), Islamic terror cells in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) under the Palestinian Authority, and the Houthis of Yemen.

In addition to deftly crushing Iran’s “ring of fire” and decimating their leadership, Israel also needed to completely destroy Iran’s enormous missile and drone arsenals and take out its leaders, top military command, and Iran Revolutionary Guard Council (IRGC) leadership. Israel strongly believed in the objective of regime change and did its best toward achieving it.

But unfortunately, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had in President Trump a fickle ally. Unlike Bibi, whose Israel-survival focus is uncompromising, Trump changes colour as the situation demands. He always looks over his shoulder before deciding what to do next. For instance, the closure of Hormuz and the sharp rise of oil and gas prices affected Americans as they did the rest of the world. With the midterm elections coming fast down the road, Trump needed to “make deals” with a virtually defeated enemy for a quicker end to the war to enable his party to retain its majority in the House and the Senate. If his party loses, his hold on power could slip, and the future he is building for his #MAGA political movement could be truncated.

Because of these vulnerabilities, Trump did not take his war partner, Bibi, along in the ceasefire negotiations. Once Iran agreed to suspend its nuclear programme and reopen Hormuz, Trump rushed to sign. What about the “regime change”? With the Islamic regime still in power, Trump had thrown the Iranian people under the proverbial bus. Also, allowing Iran to factor Hezbollah’s survival into the deal meant outright betrayal of Israel, which was still neck-deep in military operations to cleanse Hezbollah from Lebanon for the restoration of security in northern Israel.

Trump’s outburst that “without the US, there would be no Israel. Without me there would be no Israel because no other president was willing to do what I did,” was something I found shocking. Israel is not just that little patch on the map – “dot in a circle,” as the late Muhammadu Buhari would say. It is a people that trace their history back 4,000 years or more; a historical, prophetic, and biblical people. Israel’s re-emergence in 1948 was the fulfillment of Ezekiel Chapter 36, especially verse 24: “for I will take you out of the nations, I will gather you from all countries, and bring you back into your own land…(33) I will resettle your towns and the ruins will be rebuilt…”

When people talk about the “elimination of Israel” or “wiping Israel from the map,” I laugh. When you think through the history of Israel and the Jews, you will realise that the Bible is true, alleged human meddling notwithstanding. This is one of the strong reasons that I am a Christian. Without the Jews, would there be the America that we know today? The US–Israeli strategic bond not only equally serves both sides, I strongly believe it is fostered by the Hand of God. If America breaks it, America will be demystified in the Middle East and could easily disintegrate and fall into the hands of other global powers. America is richly blessed to have Israel on its side. They must give this pocket Hercules of a country the respect that is due it. Trump must watch his mouth to avoid running into grief. 

Some of us here in Nigeria must learn a lesson from this US–Israeli rift. Trump said he was coming “guns-a-blazing” to save Nigerian Christians from genocide at the hands of Islamic terrorists masquerading as bandits and Fulani herdsmen militias. He lobbed a single Tomahawk bomb at a terrorist camp in Sokoto and vamoosed. The terrorists multiplied. They beheaded a Christian teacher on live video in Oyo State. Are these the people we are waiting to come and “rescue” us? This boastful humbug, Trump? Know it today and know peace: our salvation is in our own hands. We must fight our own fight, save ourselves, or we go down.

If Trump could so easily betray his powerful, trusted ally like Israel, what else can he do to you?

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