Antisemitism is real. It is ugly, persistent and absolutely worth condemning at every turn. But criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu — the man, the politician, the schemer — is not antisemitism. It’s realism, and it’s long overdue.
So when Donald Trump bypassed Israel on his recent Middle East tour, choosing instead to shake hands in Riyadh and Doha while skipping Tel Aviv altogether, it wasn’t hatred. It wasn’t betrayal. It was distance. It was pragmatism. It was a reminder that the U.S. is the superpower — not a client state, not a donor, not a servant. And it doesn’t need to stop in Tel Aviv to make that point.
That distance says something the political class in America has been afraid to utter for far too long: Benjamin Netanyahu is no friend of the U.S. He may call himself an ally. He may speak before Congress. He may wrap himself in shared values and talk about Western civilization. But strip away the optics, and you’re left with a man desperately clinging to power, willing to endanger global stability, fan the flames of war, and burn bridges with the very country he pretends to revere — if it means keeping himself out of a jail cell.
Trump, to his credit, finally seems to see it. And unlike previous presidents who spoke softly while writing Israel blank checks, Trump is speaking with leverage — because he understands what few are willing to say out loud: America holds the cards.
Of course, the usual suspects are already spiraling. Ben Shapiro, among others, has launched into meltdown mode, accusing Trump of betraying Israel, the Jewish people and the so-called moral order. But it’s not Trump who has done the betraying here. It’s Netanyahu, and he’s been doing it for years.
Let’s not forget: Netanyahu has repeatedly undermined American foreign policy when it suited him. He openly opposed the Obama administration’s Iran deal, even campaigning against it on U.S. soil by addressing Congress without White House approval. Imagine the outrage if another country’s leader did the same. His administration has sold military and cyber technology to China behind America’s back. He’s thumbed his nose at every U.S. president who didn’t do exactly what he wanted, while pocketing billions in U.S. aid without question or accountability.
And now, with his own political survival at stake, Netanyahu is playing a far more dangerous game.
He’s prolonging the brutal war in Gaza — not out of principle or necessity, but out of political desperation. Every bomb dropped, every hospital hit, every civilian killed gives Bibi another news cycle where he gets to be “the wartime prime minister” instead of the man facing a raft of corruption charges at home.
And if dragging Gaza into the abyss isn’t enough, he’s increasingly flirting with war against Iran. Not because it’s strategically wise. Not because it serves American interests. But because he knows war is the ultimate distraction. The ultimate shield. And if he can drag the U.S. into it alongside him? Even better. That’s not leadership. Not good leadership, anyway. It’s manipulation. What we have is a man trying to use American might to escape domestic judgment.
So let’s not pretend this is about betrayal. The betrayal already happened. Netanyahu has taken American goodwill and weaponized it for years. He’s used evangelical loyalty like a battering ram, leaned on AIPAC to silence critics, and hidden behind accusations of antisemitism every time someone dared to question his motives.
Trump, to be blunt, is simply breaking the code of silence. He didn’t need Tel Aviv photo ops this time around. He needed leverage. He needed Gulf oil and Gulf money. And for once, he chose to work around the man who has for too long positioned himself as the gatekeeper to American policy in the region. He acted like a president of a superpower should — on his own terms.
Good.
Because the truth is, Netanyahu needs America far more than America needs Netanyahu. That’s not arrogance — it’s reality. America provides the weapons, the cover, the vetoes at the U.N. Without America, Israel doesn’t survive in its current form. Full stop. And the Republican Party needs to decide: does it serve the interests of the United States, or the legal survival of a foreign politician neck-deep in scandal?
Criticizing Netanyahu is not abandoning Israel. It’s calling out a man who has turned Israel into a vessel for his own ego. It’s recognizing that real allies don’t spy on each other, don’t interfere in each other’s elections, and don’t risk regional war for the sake of avoiding a courtroom.
So let the pundits scream. Let the pearl-clutchers weep. Trump didn’t betray anyone. Unlike previous presidents, he found a backbone and decided to put America first.
John Mac Ghlionn is a writer and researcher who explores culture, society and the impact of technology on daily life.
