The confusing and contradictory statements put out by our erstwhile “ally” President Trump, not only has me confounded, but apparently many others: The anti-regime Iranians who risked and in many cases, lost, their lives to protest openly following Trump’s encouragement. The Gulf States who find themselves under bombardment once again. And the Israeli government who has whip-lash trying to keep up.

I have been advised by some that President Trump’s confusing maneuvering is actually brilliant strategy, keeping the Iranians off balance. Maybe. But in the meantime, so are the rest of us. All that we can truly know is what we see on the surface, which includes the unbearable arrogance of the IRGC who does its best to humiliate the West, and break every agreement. If this is a strategy, I’d like to know what it is going to achieve except chaos and instability?

It reminds me of the agreements we had with the Palestinians called “The Roadmap to Peace.” Remember that? Basically, we turned over land to their armed terrorists, and then said we’d turn over more if it worked out. Well, very soon buses were exploding in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv bar mitzvahs were blowing up. So we had our answer, and we saw pretty quickly that it was a roadmap to hell. But did we immediately tear up the agreement? Not on your life. In fact, until October 7, some Israelis still harbored the delusional idea that it could still all work out…

So now, the Memorandum Of Understanding has been completely ignored; bombs are flying, the Iranians are declaring they’ll never give up their nukes. Are they tearing up the agreement? Not likely. Once these delusional pacts are negotiated, you’d have to seriously lose face to admit you’ve been betrayed and bamboozled So I don’t know what the Iranians will have to do to get the Americans to admit they seriously misread the situation. But I’m sure they’ll think of something.

In the meantime, the signed-agreement-lovers have dreamed up another long, long treaty with many points just signed between Israel and Lebanon concerning Israeli withdrawal from that country, under the benevolent auspices of the United States. Still another, in my opinion, “seeing is believing” works of art.

That Hezbollah is outraged is our only sign that it might actually be a good thing for Israel. Abu Ali has created this “summary for the lazy:”

• Section 1 discusses mutual recognition between Israel and Lebanon.
• Section 2 discusses the restoration of sovereignty to the Lebanese Army, subject to the dismantling of Hezbollah and its infrastructure.
• Section 3 establishes two pilot zones regarding Section 2.
• Section 5 – Israel has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon.
• Section 12 – Direct, immediate dialogue will begin between Lebanon and Israel through designated channels.
• Section 13 – The parties will cease acting against each other in the international political and legal arenas and will work to locate the remains of missing persons (probably the remains of missing pilot Ron Arad) and the release of prisoners.”

Good words on paper. But when it comes time for the Lebanese army to round up Hezbollah terrorists and their weapons and take over held Israeli positions, will they be strong enough to do so?

Ah. There’s the rub. So forgive me if my excitement over this “achievement” is less than bubbly.

In the meantime, Israeli soldiers are still being killed in Lebanon doing the work that the Lebanese army should have undertaken decades ago. The latest is Capt. David Hazut (21) from Ashkelon, a platoon commander in the 12th Battalion of the Golani Brigade, who was killed in battle in southern Lebanon from direct engagement with a Hezbollah terrorist, who was subsequently found and killed. David’s Mom, Galit, who lost her husband when David was 16, was adamant that she didn’t want her son in a combat unit, but David insisted: “He was home a few weeks ago, and I said to him I told you you’d be cannon fodder with all those drones, but you said: ‘Mom, only those who are there can understand and if it’s written that I should go, you’ll pull your life together and you’ll continue.’ “David,” she said, heartbroken, over his grave, “your father can’t say kaddish for you, but he’ll be waiting to welcome you with open arms.”

David’s girlfriend, Ron, said: “I always knew that if something would happen to you, it would be because you care so much about what you’re doing. Who is going to call me ‘wife’ now? Who is going to steal away from the army base only to spend a few hours with me? Who will be the father of my children?”

Perhaps because we are in this difficult dilemma, our government has finally girded its loins and done a few bold things that it was terrified of doing until now. Number one, Netanyahu told a Jerusalem press conference yesterday, that “there can’t be a Palestinian state together with the State of Israel between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Most of the Israeli public now agrees with this viewpoint, whereas before the war, the public was divided.”

I agree with that completely.

The second thing that has been a long time coming has been Jerusalem formally recognizing the genocide committed against Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks by Ottoman Turkish forces, a step it has avoided for years hoping to preserve ties with Ankara. But Erdogan’s disgusting behavior over the last few years may have just ended the usefulness of that restraint. As Netanyahu put it: “Hardly a day goes by without Erdogan calling for the destruction of the State of Israel. We take those words very seriously, because if there is one thing we have learned from the history of our people, it is that when someone says they intend to destroy you, you should take them seriously. We will also draw the attention of our American friends to these remarks. We are not ignoring them,” he told fellow cabinet members.

Erdogan’s bottomless hatred is not political; it is ideological and religious. Nothing Israel could do can change his mind. I always viewed Turkey’s little dictator, who jails his political opponents, as a Hitler wannabee. Can’t understand his coziness with Trump.

And now lovely words of encouragement, so hard to come by these days, straight from this week’s Torah portion, the story of the prophet Balaam sent by the King of Moav to curse the Jews, who winds up blessing them instead.

Numbers, 23-26

God has blessed, and I cannot reverse it!
No misfortune is in His plan for Jacob;
      no trouble is in store for Israel.
For the Lord their God is with them;

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*** ENEMY BESIDE ME ***