After the American writer, Thomas Friedman, warned US President Joe Biden in two previous articles against allowing Israel to launch a ground operation on Gaza, Friedman renewed his demand for Biden to pressure Israel not to fall into the trap of a ground invasion.
In his new article entitled “Israel is about to make a grave mistake,” Friedman said that through everything he learned from senior American officials, Biden failed to convince Israel to step back and think about all the implications of an invasion of Gaza, for Israel and the United States.
Friedman stressed, “If Israel now rushes into Gaza to destroy Hamas, it will make a grave mistake”.
He stressed that this would be devastating to Israeli interests and US interests, adding that this could lead to igniting a global fire and blowing up the entire structure of the pro-American alliance, which the United States has built in the region since Henry Kissinger engineered the end of the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
Friedman also clarified that by this he meant the Camp David Accords, the Oslo Accords, the Abraham Accords and the possible normalization of relations between Israel and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, stressing that the whole matter may catch fire.
Friedman pointed out that the matter is not about whether Israel has the right to take revenge on Hamas, but rather it’s about the method that is not in the interest of Hamas, Iran, and Russia, pointing out that there will be no one who can rescue Israel.
He continued by saying, “Unfortunately, a senior US official told me that the Biden team has left Israel, and he feels that Netanyahu, despite his knowledge that his transgression in Gaza could lead to igniting the fire in the entire region, his partners in the right-wing coalition are keen to fan the flames in the West Bank”.
He added, “At the same time, US officials told me that representatives of these settlers in the government are withholding tax money owed to the Palestinian Authority, making it more difficult to keep the West Bank under control”.
Friedman pointed out, “Netanyahu shouldn’t allow this, but he has trapped himself,” explaining that “he needs these right-wing extremists in his coalition to keep himself out of prison on corruption charges, but he will put all of Israel in a Gaza prison unless he separates from these Jewish fanatics”.
He added, “Unfortunately, a senior US official told me that the Israeli military leaders are actually more extreme than the prime minister now,” noting that they are “at the peak of anger and determined to strike Hamas that the entire region will never forget”.
He continued by saying: “I understand why, but friends don’t allow their friends to lead and they are angry,” he pointed out, “Biden must tell this Israeli government that seizing Gaza without linking it to a completely new approach regarding the settlements, the West Bank, and the two-state solution, would be a disaster for Israel and a disaster for America”.
Friedman noted that as the second week passed, US officials noticed increasing signs that both leaders, the Leader of the Revolution and the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ali Khamenei, and the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, are allowing their forces to attack Israeli targets more aggressively… They may attack American targets if the United States intervenes.
He added that they smell the logic that the Israeli invasion of Gaza could help achieve their goal of removing the United States from the entire region.
Friedman noted that, it’s possible that the United States, Russia, and China could be involved directly or indirectly.
Friedman said that he had never written a column with such urgency before, because he had never felt such concern about how this situation could spiral out of control in ways that could irreparably harm Israel and irreparably harm US interests.
Reforming it… threatening Jews everywhere and destabilizing the entire world.
He stressed, “I beg Biden to tell the Israelis this immediately, for their sake, for America’s sake, and for the world’s sake”.
