The Last Pillar: How the U.S. Became the Sole Enabler of a Pariah State

3 minutes read time.

As Israeli tanks began to roll into the devastated streets of Gaza City on Monday, launching a ground offensive of immense and predictable human cost, a stunning revelation emerged from Jerusalem: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s entire security establishment—the heads of the IDF, Mossad, and Shin Bet—had advised him against it. They warned it would endanger the remaining hostages, lead to heavy Israeli casualties, and fail to achieve its stated goal of dismantling Hamas. The decision to invade was not strategic; it was a desperate political gamble. And it was a gamble made possible by one nation, and one nation alone: the United States of America, which, through a cynical display of diplomatic pageantry and rhetorical gymnastics, has chosen to become the last pillar propping up an increasingly isolated and rogue state.

The American excuse-making was on full display during Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Jerusalem. As the offensive began, Rubio stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Netanyahu and gave the Israeli government the full-throated endorsement it needed. He did not mention a ceasefire. He did not repeat the administration’s earlier, tepid criticism of the disastrous Israeli strike in Qatar. Instead, he declared that the U.S. priority was the “destruction of Hamas” and that while a diplomatic solution was a nice thought, “we also have to be prepared for the possibility that that’s not going to happen.” Behind the scenes, the message was even clearer. “Rubio didn’t pull the brakes on the ground operation,” a senior Israeli official told Axios. The official American position, as one U.S. official put it, is a cynical washing of hands: “It’s not Trump’s war, it’s Bibi’s war, and he will own whatever happens next.”

This American green light is being given at the very moment the rest of the Western world is recoiling in horror and beginning to treat Israel as a pariah state. The diplomatic tsunami is gathering force. The European Union is planning to sanction far-right ministers and suspend trade agreements, with its top official declaring that the “man-made famine” in Gaza has “shaken the conscience of the world.” Spain and Belgium have announced arms embargoes and sanctions on settlement products. Norway’s massive $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund has begun divesting from Israeli companies. And a coalition of Western allies, including the UK, France, and Canada, is preparing to formally recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations next week. The isolation is not just political; it is cultural, with threatened boycotts of Eurovision and Hollywood petitions signed by major stars.

Even within Israel, former prime ministers and diplomats are sounding the alarm, warning that Netanyahu has turned the country into an international pariah and that they are in a “possible preamble to a South African moment.” One former ambassador, who served in post-apartheid South Africa, has even endorsed the international pressure, stating bluntly, “That’s how South Africa was pushed to its knees.”

But the Netanyahu government appears unconcerned, and the reason is clear: it believes it has the only ally that matters. The Trump administration’s support is not just rhetorical; it is symbolic and deeply provocative. As the Gaza offensive launched, Secretary Rubio was participating in the inauguration of a controversial settler-backed archeological site in a tunnel running under a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem. It was a tacit and powerful endorsement of the most extreme, expansionist elements of the Israeli government. The message, as one analyst for the International Crisis Group summarized it, is clear and chilling: “Israel can do as it pleases, and the U.S. will provide the ammo.” While the world builds walls of sanctions and boycotts, the United States is busy finding excuses, ensuring that the last pillar of support for a rogue government remains firmly in place.