When it comes to the war against Iran, the first drafts of history were particularly harsh on the architects of the free world.
So much so that, in some pathetic circles, the Ayatollah and his followers are getting better press coverage than President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The attacks by the New York Times and other American leftists accusing Trump of tricking Netanyahu into joining the war are ridiculous, but it turns out that these accusations have an equally ridiculous counterpart in Israel.
There, there is a growing claim that Netanyahu is such a weak junior partner that he refuses to stand up to Trump when the president makes decisions that are not in the interest of Israel’s security.
Here’s the thing, both men are evil and cowardly at the same time.
As a recent headline in The Times of Israel put it: “By repeatedly deferring to Trump, Netanyahu subjects Israeli security to the whim of the US president.”
The writer cites as an example Trump’s decision to stop the fighting and declare a two-week ceasefire so that settlement talks with Iran can begin. Writer Lazar Berman announced that Trump’s decision amounts to “a rejection of Netanyahu’s failed pressure against temporarily stopping or ending the war so far.”
The media is hateful
It also notes that shortly after the ceasefire was announced, “Netanyahu’s office acknowledged in an English-language statement only that ‘Israel supports President Trump’s decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks.’”
Although neither leader is above criticism, the drumbeat of hateful accusations in both countries strikes me as the bitter remains of political sour grapes.
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman is among those who hate both men. It’s a sentiment he doesn’t hide, as when he recently said that the West Bank incident was “just another day in which the Netanyahu government plays President Trump for a fool.”
These reports feed in part on an element of naivete about the inevitable disagreements in complex wartime alliances, even in the most successful ones. Roosevelt and Churchill did not always see things the same way, and both had problems with Stalin, yet the three worked together long enough to defeat Hitler and Nazism.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the latest developments in the war with Iran:
For their part, Trump and Netanyahu were routinely ridiculed by their countries’ legacy media long before the current conflict. One effect of bias is to ignore inconvenient facts that undermine criticism.
Regarding Trump, for example, the claim that he was dragged into a war he did not want by Israel carries more than a faint whiff of “blame the Jews.”
But the charge also doesn’t take into account the president’s long-standing declaration that he would do whatever is necessary to make sure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.
It was a mainstay of his three presidential campaigns and the politics of his two White House terms.
In 2016, he campaigned against Barack Obama’s deal with Iran, which he rightly viewed as too generous and unlikely to prevent the mullahs from obtaining nuclear weapons, building missiles, and financing terrorism.
He withdrew from the agreement in 2018, and two years later ordered the attack that eliminated the Iranian terror mastermind, General Qasem Soleimani. These moves showed that, unlike Obama, he would back up his red lines with action.
It couldn’t be clearer
However, shortly after the start of his second term, Trump wrote a letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and said publicly: “We have reached final strikes with Iran. They cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.”
In a television interview, he described his approach as “There are two ways you can deal with Iran: militarily, or make a deal. I prefer to make a deal, because I am not looking to hurt Iran. They are great people.”
The Ayatollah ostracized him, so Trump took action again. He joined Israel in its 12-day war against Iran last year, but limited the American role to dropping bunker-buster bombs on three underground nuclear facilities.
Earlier this year, Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner began a new round of negotiations with Iranian representatives. Although there was some happy talk about early progress, the third and final meeting showed that the Iranians were not serious about reaching a meaningful agreement.
Witkoff told Sean Hannity that representatives of the Ayatollah opened the meeting by asserting the “inalienable right to enrich” nuclear fuel to weapons-grade levels.
Witkoff added: “They told us directly and without shame that they control 460 kilograms of the 60% (enrichment) rate, and they know that they can make 11 nuclear bombs, and that was the beginning of their negotiating position.”
The collapse of the talks prompted Trump to say, for the first time, that “regime change” may be necessary. He has amassed military force in the area, but said he hopes he won’t need to use it.
It was now clear that an agreement could not be reached, so days after the talks collapsed, he ordered Operation Epic Fury to be carried out.
And here we are, two months later, and despite the massive attack it was subjected to, Iran once again refused to enter into serious negotiations, which was the primary goal of the ceasefire.
“No one knows who is in charge, including them,” Trump said Saturday after canceling plans for Witkoff and Kushner to leave for Pakistan, which was scheduled to broker a meeting. “If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!” He told the newspaper.
What further complicates Netanyahu’s position is Israel’s need to stop Hezbollah attacks from Lebanon. He did not want the Iranian ceasefire to include the Lebanese front, but Trump and Iran insisted on that.
Trump even said he prevented Israel from carrying out further bombing in Lebanon, declaring on social media that “Israel will no longer bomb Lebanon. The United States has prevented them from doing so. Enough!!!”
Massive latest
Some saw the statement as insulting to Netanyahu, but it was better than losing Trump’s cooperation in the campaign against Iran.
Unlike the prime minister, his critics tend to forget that Israel is the junior partner in the powerful coalition.
There is also no evidence that Trump does not share Israel’s desire to dismantle Hezbollah as well as Iran.
In fact, despite Lebanese law prohibiting direct dealings with Israel, Secretary of State Marco Rubio brokered a meeting between the two countries at the White House, but optimism remains weak.
The basic fact is that the Lebanese government is too weak to be able, politically and militarily, to disarm the Iranian proxy. Any effort to do so could lead to a Lebanese civil war, but Israel cannot accept the status quo.
To this end, Trump announced, after another meeting between the two governments on Thursday, the extension of the ceasefire between them for another three weeks, until May 17.
Media reports say Israelis living near the Lebanese border were outraged, with a local headline declaring that Netanyahu was “held hostage by Trump.”
And the ridiculous drumbeat continues.