Now that a cease-fire is in place, one of Israel‘s many reckonings must address the belief that good hasbara can distract the world from bad policies, like the humanitarian crisis in Gaza or the suppression of Palestinian self-determination
Embedded within U.S. President Donald Trump‘s long, lavish speech in the Israeli Knesset on Monday [13 October 2025] were a select number of truths.
„Now you have peace,“ Trump began (this is not the truthful part). „You have people that really like Israel.“(Nor is this.) “It was getting to be a little nasty out there in the world. And ultimately the world wins. You can’t beat the world.“ This is closer to the truth. He recounted encouraging Benjamin Netanyahu to approve the ceasefire deal by telling the prime minister: „Bibi, you‘re gonna be remembered for this far more than if you kept this thing going, going, going – kill, kill, kill.“
Translated, Trump meant that you can’t beat world opinion, which had a nasty view of Israel, because Israel was doing a great deal of killing.
Failed faith
