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A single candid statement by US President Donald Trump during a Fox News interview last week may illuminate the true calculus behind Israel’s decision to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza, following a relentless, genocidal two-year campaign that has tragically killed or wounded nearly a quarter of a million Palestinians.
“Israel cannot fight the world, Bibi,” Trump declared during the interview, a direct warning he is to have previously delivered to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The reality is that very few people around the globe currently support Netanyahu. Crucially, a significant segment of his own populace has already him in contempt, a resentment that predates the war on Gaza — a war that he treated as a desperate, personal quest for renewed domestic popularity.
Yet, his delusion persists. Even as millions globally protest his systematic extermination of innocent Palestinians, Netanyahu has seemingly convinced himself that world opinion is miraculously shifting in his favor — a shift that would require the world to have liked him in the first place.
But what precisely did Trump mean by, “you cannot fight the world?”
Netanyahu has seemingly convinced himself that world opinion is miraculously shifting in his favor
Dr. Ramzy Baroud
The term “fight” here clearly transcends physical combat. Gaza, besieged, starved and devastated, was the entity enduring the physical confrontation. Trump’s reference is unambiguously to the surge of worldwide: the sanctions imposed by nations like Spain, the legal initiated at the world’s highest courts, the widespread for boycott, the organizing of freedom flotillas, and more.
It is profoundly significant that, in the minds of both Washington and Tel Aviv, these global events have registered as a serious strategic concern. Future historians will likely designate this moment as the definitive turning point in global attitudes toward the Israeli occupation of Palestine. If strategically fostered by Palestinians, this burgeoning solidarity movement holds the potential to fully Israel, compelling it to finally relent and free the Palestinian people from its enduring system of colonialism and apartheid.
However, “Bibi” is not merely losing the world, he is America itself. For decades, the US has operated as Israel’s indispensable benefactor, underwriting every war, financing every illegal settlement, justifying every act of violence and consistently blocking any international attempt to hold Israel accountable.
The reasons for America’s decades-long, unwavering commitment to sustaining Israel are complex. While the overwhelming of the powerful pro-Israel lobby in Washington and Israel’s disproportionate sway over major media outlets are correctly cited as factors, the dynamic runs deeper. The prevailing, mutually reinforced narrative in both nations has consistently framed Israel not merely as an ally but as an essential extension of America’s political identity and core values.
However, cracks in this political edifice have begun to appear with unmistakable clarity. What were once marginalized dissenting voices, often labeled as “radicals” within the American left, gradually solidified into mainstream dissent, particularly within the Democratic Party. Poll after poll demonstrated a mass shift, with the majority of Democrats turning against Israeli policy and lending their support, instead, to the Palestinian people and their just struggle for freedom. One of the most telling polls was conducted by Gallup in March. It that 59 percent of Democratic voters say they sympathize more with Palestinians, while only 21 percent say they sympathize more with Israelis.
The Israeli genocide in Gaza catalyzed more than just dissent within one of America's two major political parties. Outright opposition to Israel has rapidly gone mainstream, transcending traditional political lines — a rupture that has alarmed those determined to maintain the illusion that Israel can act with impunity, free from American objection.
Outright opposition to Israel has rapidly gone mainstream, transcending traditional political lines
Dr. Ramzy Baroud
The pro-Israel media apparatus in the US fought a shameful war to obscure the extent of the Israeli genocide. It consistently to blame Palestinians for Israel’s actions and brazenly promoted the insidious notion that the war against Gaza’s innocents was a necessary component of the ever-elusive “war on terror.”
But it was ordinary people, powerfully amplified by countless social media platforms, who collectively fought back. They successfully defeated a mainstream propaganda machine that had, for decades, served as the primary defensive line for Israel.
A particularly troubling fact for Israel was the erosion of its newly established base of support: the evangelicals and the broader Republican Party. Polling indicated a significant exodus, especially among young Republican voters. A University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll in August that only 24 percent of Republican voters aged 18 to 34 said they sympathize more with Israelis than with Palestinians.
According to Politico, Israel even to manipulate social media by paying influencers significant sums of money to circulate its fabrications and deception. That campaign involved about 600 fake profiles posting more than 2,000 coordinated comments per week, targeting more than 120 US lawmakers.
But can Israel possibly swing the narrative back in its favor? While vast sums of money will undoubtedly be spent on sophisticated campaigns aimed at polishing Israel's severely tarnished image, these efforts will prove futile. The once-marginalized Palestinian narrative has surged, becoming a powerful, compelling moral authority worldwide. The strong, unyielding and dignified resilience of the Palestinian people has garnered global sympathy and galvanized support in unprecedented ways.
This new reality may very well represent hasbara’s final stand, as no amount of money, newspaper coverage or Netflix specials can ever successfully polish the image of a state that has so openly committed genocide — and one of the most thoroughly documented genocides in recorded history.
- Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the editor of The Palestine Chronicle. His latest book, “Before the Flood,” will be published by Seven Stories Press. His website is . X: @RamzyBaroud