By Iqbal Jassat
Does it make sense to argue that support for a genocidal regime is limited to an expression of religious ideals espoused by Zionism, and not to the terrorism it undertakes?
This type of faulty logic by front line allies of Israel, especially within civil society where they operate as “Friends/Supporters of Israel” or various other guises under the umbrella of Zionist organisations, must be called out and challenged as deceitful.
Indeed, the hollowness of such deceptive spin is being exposed and countered as illustrated by growing trends across all sectors of public opinion.
Not confined to street protests or boycott and sanctions campaigns by civil rights movements, to the shock and horror of Zionist lobbyists, reservation and disdain of Israel’s ongoing unlawful behaviour carries the seal of the US Presidency.
Dramatic cracks in US/Israel relations playing out in real time in full view of the world, provide encouraging signs that rejection of Israel’s impunity emanates from the highest office in America.
It has begun – belatedly so, and with force that has the potential to remove the shield of protection the Zionist regime enjoyed for decades under successive US administrations.
A paradigm shift with colossal negative consequences for Israel if Trump and his team do not buckle under the weight of blackmail and dirty tricks the settler colonial regime is known for.
“Donald Trump Has Fulfilled My Dream: For Israel to Pay for Its Actions” is the title of Gideon Levy’s latest oped in Haaretz, in which he is hopeful that his dream will come true.
“Sometimes dreams do come true. For years, other dinosaurs and I dreamed about international pressure and sanctions as the last way out of the mess. I knew that Israelis would never wake up one morning and say, let’s put an end to all this – to the occupation, to apartheid, to controlling another people – because it’s ugly.
“I knew it simply wouldn’t happen. I thought that what worked wonders against the first apartheid regime, the one in South Africa – sanctions, ostracism and international boycotts that led to its downfall – would also work well against the second apartheid regime, the one practiced in Israel”, writes Levy.
He dreamed about the moment in which Israelis would be forced to recognize that it was impossible to continue this way, with unbelievable arrogance toward the United States and with blatant disregard of the entire world, without paying a price.
“That moment is now dawning. Not a liberal president, but rather the most benighted of all American presidents is preaching morality to Israel as if he were René Cassin, the French Jewish jurist who co-authored the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”.
JD Vance, the vice president, who is more conservative than the commander-in-chief, is issuing unprecedented warnings.
Along with Trump, the critique both are expressing points to huge distance between the US and Israel.
“There’s no need to flatten a whole building because a Hezbollah militant might be inside; it’s not smart to assail the U.S. president, Israel’s last friend in the world; Syria would do a better job in Lebanon than Israel; two-thirds of the arms and ammunition protecting Israel are made in and paid for by the U.S.: the voice of reason from Washington”.
According to INSS, which describes itself as “the most valued independent think tank influencing Israel’s long-term national security policy”, one of the foundations of the special relationship between Israel and the United States in recent decades has been broad public sympathy toward Israel, which translated into near-unreserved support within the American political system.
It explains that though this support remained stable and balanced between rising Republican backing and declining support among Democrats, it is no longer the case.
“Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, however, American public support has eroded, a process that gained further momentum during the war in Iran, partly due to the perception that Israel drew the United States into a campaign that many Americans believe does not serve US interests and that has proved costly for the American public”.
The erosion of Israel’s favourable standing in American public opinion is confirmed by a poll by the Pew Research Center it conducted during the recent war on Iran, which found that 60% of Americans view Israel unfavorably compared to 53% in 2025 and 42% in 2022.
To be in bed or in step with a regime perpetrating the worst forms of human rights violations including ethnic cleansing and genocide, is no longer fashionable.
One therefore has no choice but to agree with Levy’s sentiments.
“A world that was horrified by what Israel did in the Gaza Strip will want a reckoning. A genocidal state can no longer be the darling of the Western world. A state whose citizens carry out pogroms daily, with the cooperation of its military, will not be a part of the family of nations. The dream is starting to come true. It will be a nightmare.”
Iqbal Jassat
Executive Member
MEDIA REVIEW NETWORK
Johannesburg