Donald Trump Has Fulfilled My Dream: For Israel to Pay for Its Actions -- Gideon Levy in Haaretz
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Jun 22, 2026, 6:07:49 PM (24 hours ago) Jun 22
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Haaretz June 21 2026
Donald Trump Has Fulfilled My Dream: For Israel to Pay for Its Actions
This screengrab from video footage shows U.S. President Donald Trump
Haaretz June 21 2026
Donald Trump Has Fulfilled My Dream: For Israel to Pay for Its Actions
This screengrab from video footage shows U.S. President Donald Trump
next to France's President Emmanuel Macron during the signing of a deal
with Iran, inside Chateau de Versailles, southwest of Paris on Wednesday.
Credit: AFP
Gideon Levy
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.
I also knew that the key to any change in the international community's attitude to Israel lay in Washington. Without it, there could be no effective international pressure on Israel. I thought about an enlightened and courageous American president, such as Barack Obama, who would put an end to the corrupting and distorted relations between his country and Israel.
I 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.
The vice president, who is more conservative than the commander-in-chief, is issuing unprecedented warnings. Their points are self-evident, their logic sound: 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.
A man sits atop a hill near destroyed and heavily-damaged buildings at the
It's reasonable to assume that these harsh words will not remain in the realm of rhetoric; they will be followed by actions. An administration that is so focused on itself and its honor will not wipe the spittle from its face and say it's raining.
Along with the sense of bitterness, justified or not, over Israel having pushed the superpower into a failed war, a new dawn will rise on relations between the two countries – a cold, cloudy morning. Nor will the U.S. elections change things. There will no longer be a "friend of Israel" in the White House, someone who thinks Israel must be given everything, unconditionally.
It's impossible to rejoice over this. On the one hand, this is the last chance for a correction. On the other hand, it is a severe blow to Israel and Israelis. The greatest danger to the state, greater than any Iranian threat, is taking shape before our astonished eyes.
When Washington gives the signal, Europe will join in eagerly as well. They are only waiting for the sign. It's hard to imagine how Israel can manage without the world. The world will loathe it, as it did other pariah states. This is frightening and it will be painful. But this is our last hope.
Therefore, one must be grateful to President Donald Trump for exchanging the hollow pointless words uttered by all his liberal predecessors and for turning to a revolutionary change of policy.
No more insane aid with no conditions, but a condition attached to every dollar and every missile. Behave or pay the price. You can no longer do as you please: assassinate, abuse, violate national sovereignty and international law with impunity. In such an atmosphere, Israel will no longer be able to continue to thumb its nose at the international community, for which there is no more unifying issue than opposition to the occupation.
Whether it wants to or not, Israel will have to take this into consideration. The first cracks have already appeared, and how: a deal made with Iran while entirely disregarding Israel, which for years disregarded the United States and the entire world.
This is only the beginning: 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.
Gideon Levy
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.
I also knew that the key to any change in the international community's attitude to Israel lay in Washington. Without it, there could be no effective international pressure on Israel. I thought about an enlightened and courageous American president, such as Barack Obama, who would put an end to the corrupting and distorted relations between his country and Israel.
I 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.
The vice president, who is more conservative than the commander-in-chief, is issuing unprecedented warnings. Their points are self-evident, their logic sound: 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.
A man sits atop a hill near destroyed and heavily-damaged buildings at the
Nuseirat camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip, Friday.
Credit: AFP/EYAD BABA
It's reasonable to assume that these harsh words will not remain in the realm of rhetoric; they will be followed by actions. An administration that is so focused on itself and its honor will not wipe the spittle from its face and say it's raining.
Along with the sense of bitterness, justified or not, over Israel having pushed the superpower into a failed war, a new dawn will rise on relations between the two countries – a cold, cloudy morning. Nor will the U.S. elections change things. There will no longer be a "friend of Israel" in the White House, someone who thinks Israel must be given everything, unconditionally.
It's impossible to rejoice over this. On the one hand, this is the last chance for a correction. On the other hand, it is a severe blow to Israel and Israelis. The greatest danger to the state, greater than any Iranian threat, is taking shape before our astonished eyes.
When Washington gives the signal, Europe will join in eagerly as well. They are only waiting for the sign. It's hard to imagine how Israel can manage without the world. The world will loathe it, as it did other pariah states. This is frightening and it will be painful. But this is our last hope.
Therefore, one must be grateful to President Donald Trump for exchanging the hollow pointless words uttered by all his liberal predecessors and for turning to a revolutionary change of policy.
No more insane aid with no conditions, but a condition attached to every dollar and every missile. Behave or pay the price. You can no longer do as you please: assassinate, abuse, violate national sovereignty and international law with impunity. In such an atmosphere, Israel will no longer be able to continue to thumb its nose at the international community, for which there is no more unifying issue than opposition to the occupation.
Whether it wants to or not, Israel will have to take this into consideration. The first cracks have already appeared, and how: a deal made with Iran while entirely disregarding Israel, which for years disregarded the United States and the entire world.
This is only the beginning: 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.
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