https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/trumps-triumph-and-the-firing-of-yoav-gallant/
Mike Whitney • November 6, 2024

Why was Trump Allowed to Win the Election?

We know what happens when the deep state does not get the outcome it wants. All hell breaks loose, just like did following the 2016 elections. Try to remember what that was like. Try to remember the legal challenges and the lawsuits, the hectoring and name-calling, the spurious allegations of voter fraud and Russian meddling, and the overall discrediting of the electoral process. Try to recall the street protests, the angry antifascist mobs scuffling with cops and the relentless outbursts of rage directed at the “new Hitler”.

Do you remember that?

That’s what happens when the deep state does not get its way.

Have you noticed that nothing similar to that display of manufactured rage has taken place in 2024? Have you noticed that the liberal media has been calling for calm and unity and that it is almost impossible to find a belligerent or hostile article aimed at Trump?

Isn’t this a case of the ‘dog that didn’t bark’; a case in which a skeptical person should assume foul play not from what he hears but from what he doesn’t hear?

Indeed, the reason the election results were “free and fair” is not because the intel community has stopped rigging elections, but because no rigging was required. They wanted Trump to win because Trump was ‘their man.’

Before I explain what I mean by that, allow me to share an email I send to a friend on Monday, the day before the election:

Trump’s gonna win…
The deep state needs a popular president to recruit red state teenagers to fight a war with Iran…
Harris doesn’t have that kind of appeal

Doesn’t this help to explain why the media hasn’t gone bonkers over the Trump victory and pilloried him as a racist, fascist homophobe as they typically do?

As it happens, the deep state –which unconditionally supports the state of Israel– needs Donald Trump. They need a charismatic, populist firebrand to boost recruitment and spearhead the rush to war. Harris can’t do that. Harris had trouble attracting even a hundred supporters to her rallies.

No, this is a task for a leader that is trusted, admired and loved. This is a task for a man who has credibility with the red state young men who traditionally fight our wars. This is a job for Trump.

That doesn’t mean that the deep state has abandoned its pro-censorship, pro-surveillance, anti-civil liberties agenda. (It hasn’t.) It just means that their overall priorities have shifted to more pressing issues like the Iranian ballistic missile attack on Israel which could happen at any time. Trump will not only be required to respond to that attack; he will also be asked to deploy US troops to counter the Iranian threat. And given Trump’s record of sycophancy to Israel (as well as the $100 million his campaign was gifted by Zionist donors) we expect he will comply. No president has ever demonstrated more unwavering loyalty to Israel than Donald J Trump.

Do you have any idea of how highly regarded Trump is in Israel?

Check out this extraordinary clip of two TV anchors downing shots of whisky on air in celebration of the Trump victory:

Can you imagine what the reaction would be if pundits in Moscow performed a similar toast on national TV?

Here’s another ‘must see’ display of emotion by an infantryman blasting a civilian enclave in Gaza while bellowing ‘God bless Israel and God bless the USA’

And here’s a TV game show host leading an audience in a traditional song of celebration to a large photo of Trump on a screen behind him.

It’s clear that Trump is regarded by many Israelis as an American messiah who will deploy his legions of young men to the Middle East to smite Israel’s enemies and help the Jewish state emerge as the regional hegemon. That’s the hope at least; the reality may be far different. But the point we’re trying to make is that Trump’s utility to Israel may have been a critical factor in the deep state’s approach to the 2024 presidential elections. Of course, that is just my own conspiratorial point of view.

Guess who else supports Donald Trump?

Now, onto Gallant…

The surprise sacking of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is significant for many reasons, none of which have been covered in the mainstream media. Netanyahu justified the action in a statement he delivered on Tuesday:

In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and the defense minister… Unfortunately, although in the first few months of the campaign there was such trust and very fruitful work, over the last few months, this trust has cracked between myself and the defense minister.

This is nonsense. There was no “crisis of trust” between Netanyahu and Gallant. The Defense Minister was fired because he objected to the improvisational (and idiotic) way the war was being conducted. As a military man, he wanted to see the implementation of a coherent strategy that clearly articulated the objectives of the mission and the manner in which those goals could be realistically achieved. But –as anyone who has watched this bloody fiasco unfold– it’s clear that there is no battleplan, no strategy, and no endgame. Netanyahu has been flying-by-the-seat-of-his-pants from the get-go while keeping the bulk of the population on his side with regular eye-popping tactical triumphs like the exploding pagers or the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah. Bibi operates on the theory that war is not a coercive way to achieve strategic objectives, but a series of oddball events aimed at garnering public support. Sacking Gallant merely confirms that Netanyahu intends to continue in this same suicidal vein, embroiling Israel in more and more conflicts for which there is no clear definition of victory and no plan for ending the hostilities. These are truly the “forever wars.”

Don’t get me wrong, Gallant is not a ‘good guy’ by any stretch of the imagination, he’s just slightly more rational than the loonies that are fast becoming the majority of Bibi’s war cabinet. This is an excerpt from an article at The Times of Israel:

An official close to the Prime Minister tells The Times of Israel that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was fired for professional reasons, and not because of coalition politics.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, says that Gallant…. advocated a diplomatic solution in Lebanon six months ago that would not have diminished Hezbollah’s capabilities, and opposed the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah until the IDF backed the move.

On Gaza, claims the official, Gallant resisted the IDF going into Rafah because of American pressure, and fought against Netanyahu’s and most of the cabinet’s position on the need to remain on the Philadelphi corridor. Official close to Netanyahu claims Gallant fired for professional reasons, Times of Israel

Let’s summarize:

Gallant advocated a diplomatic solution in Lebanon six months ago
Opposed the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
Gallant resisted the IDF going into Rafah
And fought against Netanyahu’s ….position on the need to remain on the Philadelphi corridor.

On these issues, Gallant’s views closely align with the views of the majority of people around the world who oppose Israel’s provocations and escalation.

What does this tell us?

It tells us that Gallant opposed unnecessary, pointless bloodshed that achieved no strategic purpose and only served to undermine Israel’s security. It shows that the Defense Minister wanted Israel’s operations to comply with conventional military theory that acknowledged Israel’s diminishing ability to carry on a multi-front campaign. It shows that his views on warfare were fundamentally different that those of Netanyahu who believes that the primary objective of armed conflict is to inflict pain on one’s enemy. And it tells us that Gallant was increasingly concerned about the direction of the war and how Israel had grossly overestimated its military capability.

Once again, we are not saying Gallant is a virtuous person. Quite the contrary, the man is a viper. Even so, his approach made some sense from a military point of view. The fact that he has been replaced by another messianic lunatic who enthusiastically supports the blocking of food and medicine to starving Palestinians while never articulating a vision for ending the hostilities tells you that the Israeli leadership has no idea of the trouble they are in. Depending on the ferocity of Iran’s upcoming missile attack, Israel could be facing an existential crisis that the US will be unable to change. Here’s a short clip of John Mearsheimer explaining how Israel is presently mired in numerous wars it has no way of winning:

Let’s talk about the three conflicts: The one in Gaza, the conflict with Hezbollah, and the conflict with Iran. Israel has three goals in Gaza. 1– To decisively defeat Hamas 2– To get the hostages back 3– To ethnically cleanse Gaza. ….They have achieved none of these and, furthermore, they are stuck in Gaza. They left Gaza in 2005 because it was hornets nest and now they are back in there because haven’t defeated Hamas.
With regard to Hezbollah, they tried to decapitate the leadership, they were successful (but it made no difference) so they went on to kill huge numbers of civilians in Beirut; that didn’t work. So, they invaded on the ground… and they are getting clobbered in southern Lebanon…. And remember, the reason they invaded, was to stop the rocketfire into Israel. But they haven’t stopped the rocketfire, and they haven’t succeeded against Hezbollah, and they won’t succeed against Hezbollah. Perhaps, eventually some negotiated settlement might be worked out –who knows– but the idea that their military strategy has worked? It hasn’t worked against Hezbollah, and it hasn’t worked against Hamas.

And against Iran? Iran is still capable of sending large numbers of ballistic missiles into Israel… (Mearsheimer explains how Israel’s attack on Iran was a failure.) The Israelis do not have escalation dominance over Iran. (and) Israel does not have escalation dominance over Hezbollah. Hezbollah is still firing rockets and missiles into Israel. And, by the way, the Houthis are now firing missiles into Israel too….. The conventional wisdom in the west that “Israel is on a roll” or that Israel is ‘in the driver’s seat’ is simply wrong. And if you look at what is happening in Gaza, and what is happening with Hezbollah, and what is happening with Iran; Israel is in a lot of trouble. (Mearsheimer explains the revolution in missile technology that has rendered Israel’s air power obsolete. Netanyahu and his lieutenants fail to understand that Israel can no longer defend against Iranian ballistic missiles.) Interview with John Mearsheimer, Unherd

What is the connection between Mearsheimer’s analysis and Gallant’s firing?

Gallant’s dismissal is linked to “a harshly worded missive to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning that Israel’s war efforts had become aimless and needed to be refocused. According to the Times of Israel:

In the communique, Gallant argued that Israel was fighting according to an “outdated compass” and that Jerusalem needed to revise its official war aims initially set following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack…

“Significant developments in the war, especially Israel and Iran trading direct blows, raise the necessity of holding a discussion and updating the war’s goals with a comprehensive look” at the areas of fighting and the interconnections between them, Gallant reportedly wrote….

While Israel initially set its war goals as the destruction of the Hamas terror group and the return of hostages taken during the onslaught of southern Israel over a year ago, the fighting has since expanded significantly due to attacks by Iranian proxies and Iran itself, with Israel saying it is actually fighting a seven-front war.

Israel updated its goals to include the return of northern residents to their homes before sharply intensifying attacks on the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon last month.

Gallant was said to advocate adding the following war aims: in the West Bank, “preventing an outbreak of violence by thwarting terrorism”; in Iran, “deterrence and keeping Iran out of the war”; and in Gaza, “establishing a reality with no military threat, preventing the growth of terror capabilities, return of all the hostages and promotion of an alternative to the Hamas government.”…

Gallant’s opposition to Israeli rule of Gaza, and his support for a hostage-ceasefire deal there, have put him at odds with the coalition’s far-right flank, further stressing already frayed ties within the cabinet. Gallant said to tell Netanyahu management of war directionless, goals need updating, Times of Israel

Can you see what’s going on? Can you understand how serious this is?

Gallant opposed a war with Iran, so he was sacked. Now the crazies are running the asylum and think that Uncle Sam is going to come to the rescue when they get their bu** kicked.

This may be the most dangerous situation humanity has ever faced. The future of life on the planet is being decided by fanatical messianic zealots whose grasp of reality is greatly in doubt and who believe that any act of violence they inflict on their neighbors is blessed by almighty God.

And now they want Trump to join their harebrained war on Iran so they can light up the entire region like a Roman Candle and bring on the End Times.

In the words of Nancy Reagan, Trump should “just say No”.