Alistair Crooke – Strategic Culture.su Jan 5, 2026
At the 30 December meeting with Netanyahu and his team, President Trump publicly committed to attacking Iran: If they continue with their ballistic missile program, ‘Yes’. And for their nuclear: ‘Immediate’. “We’ll knock the hell out of them“, Trump said.
By contrast to this belligerency, the Trump language at the Mar-a-Lago meeting reflected only warmth and fulsome praise for Netanyahu and Israel. Publicly, Netanyahu had received Trump’s public backing on an attack on Iran and for Gaza Phase Two, but behind the scenes many of the specifics remained undefined and disputed.
The escalatory language towards Iran was no surprise to Tehran. It had been expected. All the pointers toward coming hostilities are in plain sight: The escalating narrative – “hundreds of al-Qaida sleeper cells ready to unleash carnage; Al-Qaida found safe harbour in Iran for 25 years … [allowing Iran] to supercharge the spread of Islamic fundamentalism”, an ‘infiltrator for MI5 and MI6’ claims. On cue, the Iranian currency falls precipitously – and Iranians take to the streets.
What lies behind this outbreak of U.S.-Israeli militarism? Trump’s bluster about ‘the gates of Hell’ opening to ‘whomsoever’ is familiar to us all now. Nonetheless the signs are that Trump and Netanyahu are aligned for another round of war.
But why should Netanyahu be opting for kinetic action when Israel was so badly scarred by the incoming sophisticated Iranian missiles during the so-called June 12-day war – and when Israeli air-defences proved deficient? Iran has been re-arming and preparing for a further round ever since.
Some context is required to explain this otherwise seemingly irrational path being pursued by Israel – given the evident dangers attendant on war with Iran.
The first point to note is that Netanyahu is in trouble. His political downfall has been foretold many times before, yet somehow ‘Houdini’ manages to escape the bonds and cuffs of malign Fate. This time it is more serious. The legal consensus is that Netanyahu is likely to be convicted should his corruption cases reach their conclusion.
But that is only one aspect. The tip of the spear, however, are the ‘Qatargate’ allegations – the substance of which is that three members of the PM’s immediate staff have been in the pay of Qatar for the past years, including during the Gaza war (this claim is not disputed). The key issues are: Did Netanyahu know; if not, why not? And what was the benefit being sought by Qatar in exchange for payments? The latter aspect – the return sought by Qatar – is not clear. It is possible that for Qatar it was sufficient to have the PM’s people on the payroll (against a later ‘rainy day’ need).
In Israel, however, the allegations have become explosive. The label “treason” is being bandied about widely, including by former Prime Minister Nafthali Bennett and former Defence Minister Bogie Yalom. Those Israelis of a more cynical bent suggest that the primordial point to the Netanyahu family’s visit to Palm Beach was not so much to discuss Gaza, but rather to progress Trump’s lobbying for a pardon or trial termination – to be urged upon a prevaricating President Hertzog.
In short, Netanyahu is in need of a ‘balloon’ to lift him out of the morass of his legal entanglements and his unfinished wars, and to be wafted aloft through a popular cause by which to win the 2026 general elections. The defeat of Iran, just to be clear, would be applauded – not just by Israelis – but by an enthusiastic U.S. Congress; by donors; and both wings of the Uniparty controlling structures.
For Trump, the calculus would be somewhat different. The principle of avoiding public disputes with Netanyahu was established by former President Biden – not without hiccoughs: “Bibi deliberately sought friction with Biden. With President Trump, he avoids it”, one U.S. official hasnoted. Trump also is personally loath to alienate some of his most loyal donors, such as Miriam Adelson, and commentators such as Mark Levin.
This Trump trajectory can be understood against the backdrop of the divisions over U.S. support for Israel that has been fracturing his MAGA base (and alienating younger Democrats, too). The images coming out of Gaza of dead women and children galvanised the key constituency, Turning Point USA. A big part of the MAGA win in 2024 was due to this youth movement with thousands of chapters, Christian values and high energy. Turning Point USA potentially offers a formidable ‘Get Out the Vote’ operation.
A small group of top GOP party officials, in combination with powerful established politicians and major donors, seeks to block MAGA extending their reach to take control of the Republican Party – thereby threatening the Party leaders’ primacy. This (now) leaderless, yet organically flourishing ‘silent majority’ is silent no more. The Party Control Officers want it tamed and back under control.
Inserting the wedge issue into MAGA – ‘if you do not support the policies of Netanyahu, you are an antisemite, a hater of Israel’ — was done intentionally, with paid influencers fanning the intra-party fracture, aimed at weakening the Movement. The traditional GOP leaders want to regain full control.
From Trump’s perspective, it is entirely possible to support the State of Israel and still be critical of the politics of the current Netanyahu administration. This represents his hoped for compromise that might keep MAGA whole, going into the mid-term elections. Beneath Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Netanyahu strategy lies intense jockeying to control not just the mid-term outcomes, but the shaping of the 2028 Presidential election.
The pro-Israel donor faction asserts that Trump (and Vance’s) stance of supporting Israel, whilst questioning its policies, is a false dichotomy: To criticise Israel is ipso facto anti-semitic, Netanyahu insists. This effort to split the MAGA base – using Israel — may or may not work. The problem for these high-level party managers is that their playbook of wedge-driving is now too well understood by Gen Z.
So an U.S.-Israeli war on Iran effectively plays out at different levels other than day-day rationality. It is, of course, centred on Iran; but for the Trump circle, it is also a complicated game of chess about who will end in control of MAGA – and by extension the post-Trump era.
And in Israel, the prospect of war becomes too, a board on which to observe the business of which factions (and their donors) will prevail through the cauldron of the coming war to control the system and define what ‘Israel’ will be. Or rather, what remains of it will be.
Against this, the doubts and concerns of the professional military echelon in Israel, or in the U.S., may be muted out of concern for not being sufficiently ‘on team’ amidst the fervour for war.
I’m beginning to think the white people are clinically insane. Why this obsession with protecting the ragheads? If you like them so much, why don’t you go and live with them, either in their country or in the enclave in your own country.
No, they aren’t “nice people”. No, they won’t be “assimilated”. No, they won’t stop breeding until they outnumber you ten to one. You’re all clinically insane. Any and every “reporter” who’s on their side is clinically insane or being paid by them.
I do so look forward to the US-Israel-West get its ass handed to it.
Paul williams
The peoples hero lee anderson:
BBC corridors still stalked by perverts
Story by Daniel Martin • 2hLee Anderson has said he no longer pays the BBC licence fee because he does not want to fund the pensions of “perverts”.
Speaking in a Westminster Hall debate on the upcoming Charter review, the Reform MP said sexual deviants were still “stalking the corridors” of the corporation. He then called for the BBC to become a subscription service, with the licence fee scrapped.
His comments come weeks after Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, revealed she was considering new ways of funding the BBC, including allowing adverts, as milions are refusing to paya licence which is free to migrants and those living abroad.
‘Raft of perverts’
Mr Anderson said there had been a “whole raft of perverts” at the corporation, including Jimmy Savile Stephen Fry and Rolf Harris.
Lord Rothschild appointed his ” apostles” from left wing homosexuals in the 1930s and when he toik over the BBC Homosexuals gor preference for employment, Kier Starmer when director of prosecutions his up the crimes of many BBC staff and also the mass rapes of 1400 white schoolgirls.
“Mark my words, there are still these creatures stalking the corridors of the BBC and, in the future, their names will come out,” he added.
He then called for the BBC to become a subscription service, with the licence fee scrapped.
His comments come weeks after Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, revealed she was considering new ways of funding the BBC, including allowing adverts, as people were refusing to pay licence fees,
The immensely popular Mr Anderson, told MPs he earned £100,000 a year presenting on and contributing to rival network GB News, added: “I’m not paying my licence fee. I’ve not paid it for about 10 years.”
He said he does not listen to BBC radio or “get enough time” to watch live TV.
Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, has said she wants to be ‘radical’ with the licence fee – UK Parliament/PA
John Whittingdale, the former culture secretary, warned that asking advertisers to fund the BBC risks starving Channel 4 of cash.
He said the “status quo” – funding the BBC through the levy – was no longer “an option” for the Government.
“Advertising on the BBC would obviously change the nature of the BBC, but as it’s acknowledged, would have a huge impact on all the other commercial broadcasters that rely on advertising,” he said, and the reputation of the BBC is so damaged now advertising may not help
“If advertising were introduced on either BBC TV or on BB radio, the resulting impact on the commercial sector would be enormous and is not something which I think the Government would want to
“Trump is the first Jewish president.” That claim is only partially true, Trump is the president and yes, he is Jewish (born or converted makes no difference). However he is not the first, Roosevelt (Rosenfeld) was Jewish and also Lyndon Johnson, to cite a few. Both have terrible track record, they are responsible for thousands dead & wounded in wars of choice, their choice, billions in destroyed property, darkness on Earth that is.
Trump praises Netanyahu all along. Trump is completely on board the J-team, we see it thru his actions, he is one of them now. He talks like a mad man! However Trump is no Hitler (get over it), Trump is a Jew. Hitler was a Jew-hunter despite claims otherwise.
Who bombs embassies, kills women and children ostensibly, bombs diplomatic meetings (arranged by the bombers themselves and their proxies), targets/threatens state leaders, promotes piracy on international waters, has complete disregard for any civilized, international agreement? You guessed it – the shitty, little, bastard state. We are watching the prophesized metastasis of ‘Israel.’ USA is going to behave the same way the bastard rogue state does but with one important distinction: its immensely bigger destructive power! That’s bad news for America’s neighbors.
The Jew has no honor, this is the end of diplomacy (that never was real anyway). What is the point of having diplomacy with the people of the Kol Nidre? Sounds stupid, it’s like Lucy holding the ball for Charlie Brown to kick, poor Charlie.
Three years ago a Jew named Goldman (or something) said they had a plan to kidnap dissidents in a blackout. He said Trump enjoyed the role he would play. Trump likes to kidnap people in the middle of the night, he gets excited! Watch out ‘antisemites,’ Trump’s appointed ‘Czar’ is going to arrest you and make you disappear! You are a ‘terrorist’ on the eyes of the new Jewish ‘Czar’. “Antisemitism will not be tolerated,” whatever the f*ck that means.
Great Satan is on the loose. Jesus’ spiritual revolution, a change toward civility, a path in the direction of greater civilization was rejected by the Jew. Therefore, as a fossil people they are, Jews still operate with a mindset established in a barbaric era. Jesus tried to put mankind back on track. Rumors have he achieved his objective at least for a thousand years, and then things started to deteriorate again… and here we are.
there is no holyness in jews !
only innocent, not indoctrinated children are holy !
innocense, not knowledge, no trickiness, no slyness !
What Chump should have done, of course, is have Satanyahjoo thrown into the street, have the ever living piss beaten out of him, then soaked in petrol and set on fire…then have the charred corpse launched through a window of Miriam Adelson’s mansion. What Zion Don the Con did instead was drop his pants, bend over a garbage can, and allow that frothing terrorist psychopath to do whatever the f*ck he wanted. As usual. Because Zion Don the Con is part of the Talmudic Slaver mafia…and Jews bailed him out when he was facing ruinous bankruptcy….and Zion Don doesn’t want the photos and videos of him f*cking kids to be released….