Day of the Palisades

Netanyahu is deeply unpopular in Israel. In January, only 15% of Israelis wanted him to keep his job after the war on Hamas ends, and three days ago the U.S. intelligence community assessed that distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war. Large protests are expected demanding his resignation and new elections.

But Netanyahu needs to hold onto power to escape the corruption trial in which he is currently at risk, and the way he has chosen to retain power is to continue the siege of Gaza with no end in sight. He has announced that Israeli forces are planning to invade the city of Rafah, where about 1.4 million Palestinian refugees are sheltering. Millions may die so than Netanyahu can avoid accountability.

In the U.S., Donald Trump is running for president not on any policy or ideological basis, certainly not for the betterment of America, but solely to gain Presidential immunity from the many charges and indictments he's facing, to claim the ability to pardon himself of crimes, and for retribution against the real and imagined political enemies he feels were insufficiently loyal to him. The United States may slip into autocracy and install a dictator solely so Trump can avoid accountability and to ingratiate his malignant ego.