Gideon Levy, a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, says despite the clear opposition from Israeli security chiefs to plans for the intensified operation to take Gaza City, the Netanyahu government appears resolved to push ahead with the offensive. Speaking to Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv, Levy said the only thing he could see forcing the Israeli government to change course was “a phone call from President Trump – a phone call that doesn’t arrive”.
He said that while the Israeli government had been “very successful until now” in misleading the US president with “hollow promises” of a total victory in Gaza, Trump was facing pushback from his Make America Great Again (MAGA) backers and there were indications that his support could be cooling.
“There will be a point in which [Trump] will realise that he was cheated, but I don’t know when this will come,” said Levy. “Meanwhile, we know dozens and dozens are killed each day … The catastrophe continues.”
He said that while the Israeli government had been “very successful until now” in misleading the US president with “hollow promises” of a total victory in Gaza, Trump was facing pushback from his Make America Great Again (MAGA) backers and there were indications that his support could be cooling.
“There will be a point in which [Trump] will realise that he was cheated, but I don’t know when this will come,” said Levy. “Meanwhile, we know dozens and dozens are killed each day … The catastrophe continues.”

