October 4, 2025
It would be an interesting exercise if one might view and consider in retrospect the week that began with the United Nations General Assembly speech in New York on September 23rd that included the "Your countries are going to hell" performance by President Donald Trump followed on the 26th by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu experiencing the boycotting UN Delegate walk-out before moving on to Netanyahu subsequently at the White House revising the Trump plan for Gaza. The week concluded with the meeting by Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at Quantico with America's flag officers. One might, without any particular bias against either Trump or Netanyahu, well come to the conclusion that those days constitute the absolute worst that the United States government now has to offer the American people and to the world in general.
The absolute low points during the week have to be Trump's pathetic pleading for "his" Nobel Peace Prize in light of the fact that he and Hegseth also were setting the stage for regime change by military intervention initiatives in both Venezuela and Iran, while also increasing tension with Russia and allowing war criminal murderer Netanyahu to have a free hand with the Palestinians. Media reports note the impending supply of new US missiles to NATO states confronting Russia and the movement of US aerial refueling tankers from the US bases toward the Middle East, similar to the preparations made to attack Iran in June. So is this all about new wars?
On Monday, regarding the release of "his" ceasefire proposal for Gaza, Trump enthused that "This is a big, big day, a beautiful day, potentially one of the great days ever in civilization." He added that the deal would resolve millennia-old problems and bring "eternal peace." He later qualified the enthusiasm by characteristically blaming the Arabs if the plan should not succeed, declaring that "If Hamas rejects the deal, Bibi you will have our full backing to do what you have to do" to "finish it" in Gaza. He added that "Hamas is either going to be doing it or not - and if it's not, it's going to be a very sad end."
It should surprise no one that Netanyahu was privately allowed a final edit on the draft of the Trump 20-point Gaza plan/proposal that several Arab states had agreed to support in its first 21-point draft version. The "significant" changes were made on Sunday after a meeting between Chief US Negotiator Steve Witkoff and his colleague Jared Kushner together with Netanyahu's chief negotiator Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer. The text inter alia had already conceded to Israel a "security" corridor around Gaza, not unlike confining the "Gazans in a concentration camp" situation that prevailed prior to October 7th, as well as other modifications, permitting a free hand to continue the slaughter no matter how things turn out.
The principal changes demanded by Netanyahu were related to two of the most sensitive issues in the negotiations: the actual disarmament of Hamas and the pace and substance of the Israeli Army's physical withdrawal from Gaza. The issue of a future Palestinian state was ignored. The new proposal links the actual Israel withdrawal from territory to the "demilitarization" of Gaza and the ability of an international armed peacekeeping/policing force to take over the land, which will be a highly subjective process on both counts. Israel, in the edited text now being promoted by Trump, "will withdraw based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarization that will be agreed upon between the IDF, ISF, the guarantors, and the US."
The original text stated only that the IDF "will progressively hand over the Gaza territory that [it] occup[ies]." The revised proposal will instead allow Israel to occupy the "security" perimeter zone surrounding and even intruding into the Strip until Gaza is "properly secure from any resurgent terror threat." That will be highly subjective and can be used to prolong the process or even subvert it.
Netanyahu has made clear that there will be no Palestinian state alongside Israel. In fact he sees the steps leading to denial of any Palestinian political entity as a long distance race rather than a sprint, particularly when he is speaking Hebrew to an Israeli audience, saying in a televised statement on Sunday night that "Now the whole world, including the Arab and Muslim world, is pressuring Hamas to accept the terms that we created together with Trump, to bring back all the hostages - the living and the dead - while the IDF stays in the Strip."
Hamas has in fact clearly stated its willingness to release all the remaining Israeli captives in exchange for full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, even though it realizes that it would then have no leverage over the Netanyahu government. It has also indicated that it will not disarm until there is the creation of an actual Palestinian state or a Palestinian occupation force that could replace it. Hamas is also fully aware that the extermination orders for all Palestinians are still in place. On October 1st Israel ordered all remaining Palestinians to leave Gaza City, stating that anyone who remained would be considered a "terrorist," therefore approved to be killed, including civilians. Defense Minister Israel Katz said: "Those who remain in Gaza will be (considered) terrorists and terror supporters."
Hamas has, in fact, asked for clarification of the revised twenty points proposal in light of Israel having made some changes and it might still agree to the new text, though many observers doubt that it will do so. Hamas has demanded that "a distinction be made between retaining offensive and defensive weapons, as the latter is guaranteed by international law" and also insist on "a complete cessation of the war and that Israeli forces not return to the Strip." Hamas also wants a clear timetable for the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza and insists that the committee that would run the Strip be Palestinian, not international.
Both Israel and Washington will in any case be prepared to trot out the usual lies about Palestinians and "terrorism" to justify anything Israel does and whatever that is it will be fully funded, armed and given political cover by Trump. Interestingly, if Trump and Netanyahu had been sincere about their plans to disengage from Gaza, Israel might have thrown a bit of encouragement into the process by suspending its bombing, shelling and shooting of Palestinians for a day or so while the proposal was being considered by Hamas. Hundreds of Gazans, mostly women and children, have been murdered by Israel since the ceasefire plan was first floated, with hundreds more dying of starvation. It is hardly a good sign particularly if one considers that Israel has broken every ceasefire and peace agreement that it has seemingly entered into over the past year in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria while also killing many more Palestinians on the West Bank. The US, often a guarantor of the arrangements, has never held Israel accountable for it actions. The Jewish state has also imprisoned under remarkably brutal conditions more than 10,000 Palestinians without any charges against them, all of which makes it difficult to be optimistic about the chances for peace.
And speaking of peace plans, what should one think about a ceasefire plan that is supervised and guaranteed by the likes of Trump as "Chairman" of the so-called "New Gaza Board of Peace" with Sir Tony Blair as his associate to help "oversee the Gaza transition." They will no doubt be ably assisted by the Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, who has never turned down an opportunity to promote the devastation of Gaza and reconstruction and resettlement of its land by non-Palestinians to permit the building of the Trump Riviera Resort.
The appearances of Trump and Netanyahu at the UN Opening was wrapped around the expected ceasefire proposal to some extent but it also featured the tone-deaf Trump's speech focused on himself and his achievements while Netanyahu lied aggressive before an almost completely empty hall after nearly all the delegates had walked out on him.
Trump's fealty to Israel aside, the trip to Quantico to address America's flag officers might have been even more bizarre than the performance at the UN and its aftermath. Trump, a draft dodger during the Vietnam War, fancies himself to be a tough guy with his constant waving of his little fist and threatening imprisonment for anyone who crosses his path and offends him in any way. He is notable for his general belligerency when dealing with critics and his own subordinates, as well as his disparagement of the military that he has inherited as "woke" and lacking the "will to win" which has led to the relabeling of the Defense Department as the War Department and his demand for a revival of "warrior ethos" with a belief in inflicting "maximum lethality" brought about by the fierceness of the troops and their leaders. These changes are being proposed even though America has pre-Trump not been threatened by any foreign power and all the wars going on currently are being engaged in by the US without any genuine national security interests being at stake. While Trump was leaving the White House on his way to the helicopter to speak at Quantico he quipped that if the Generals and Admirals did not like his message, he would "fire them right on the spot"!
Secretary of War Hegseth added to the atmosphere, if one chooses to call it that, by demanding "to ensure peace we must prepare for war" while complaining that too many senior officers were fat and out of shape. He called for steps to make them engage in physical training to become fit and able to lead their troops in battle. Trump's tirade, which followed, also produced a lot of frowning among the 800 stony faced and silent flag officers, most of whom were wondering why they were there. For those who were aware of the US Constitution and the Posse Comitatus Act, the White House's willingness to deploy soldiers to America's cities as something like a training exercise to bring the city and state administrators into line while also teaching the armed troops to do whatever is needed to restore order is so far over the top that it defies one's imagination even to recall it. The president elaborated how "defending the homeland" was the military's "most important priority" and told the flag officers in the room that they might be tasked with aiding in "federal interventions" in Democratic-led cities such as Chicago and New York City. He described how "They're very unsafe places, and we're going to straighten them out one by one. And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That's a war, too. It's a war from within. I told [Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth], we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military - National Guard, but our military, because we're going into Chicago very soon. That's a big city with an incompetent governor."
But that is what one gets when voting into office a profoundly ignorant man who is full of himself and his presumed glory and who is inclined to repeat the last thing whispered in his ear by his equally ill-informed advisers. The end result may well become, unfortunately, goodbye America!
Reprinted with permission from Unz Review.