Thomas L. Friedman, the perennial high priest of “both-sides-ism,” has returned with his latest sermon: Israel’s Gaza Campaign Is Making It a Pariah State (Aug. 25, 2025).
And what a revelation! Friedman has finally discovered—after nearly a year of livestreamed slaughter—that Israel might just be isolating itself by dropping bombs on hospitals, torching refugee camps, and turning starvation into policy. Bravo, Tom. Pulitzer number four incoming?
But let’s not get too carried away. Friedman, as always, performs his trademark balancing act:
“I will leave it to historians to debate whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.”
Translation: I see genocide, you see genocide, but let’s kick the can down the road to the PhD crowd so I can keep my column slot tidy. It’s not denial—it’s the art of avoiding clarity when clarity might cost cocktail party invitations in Tel Aviv or D.C
The “Tragic Mishap” Industry
Friedman was “struck” (his word) by the Israeli strike on Nasser Hospital, which killed 20 people—including five international journalists. Israel responded with its standard press release: Oops, tragic mishap. We regret any harm to uninvolved individuals.
How many “mishaps” does it take before it stops being tragic and becomes policy? How many dead doctors, reporters, and children before the world stops treating these as accidents of war and starts calling them the deliberate elimination of witnesses and survivors? Friedman doesn’t say. He prefers the soft-focus lens: suicide, homicide, fratricide—eloquent abstractions that sound like Shakespearean tragedy rather than daily livestreamed war crimes.
Bibi’s War of Survival (Not Israel’s)
Even Friedman admits the obvious: Netanyahu is prolonging the war not for Israel’s security, but for his own political survival—dodging prison and clinging to power by feeding Gaza to the wolves. Yet Friedman still draws his careful line: it’s not genocide, it’s just “homicide” stretched out for political convenience.
Imagine the comfort Palestinians must feel knowing they’re not being exterminated, merely collateral damage in one man’s campaign against his trial dates.
Israel the Pariah (Finally)
Friedman cites examples of Israelis facing backlash abroad: a French theme park, Australian ministers snapping back, cruise passengers stranded. To him, these are the shocking signs of Israel’s fall from grace. To everyone else, they’re crumbs compared to the avalanche of fury Palestinians have lived under for decades. But Friedman frames it like Israel just went from prom king to cafeteria outcast.
Yes, Israel is becoming a pariah—but not because the world suddenly became cruel. It’s because the mask has slipped, and the world now sees the bulldozed homes, the mass graves, the blocked food trucks, and the endless excuses for killing.
Assisted Suicide: Trump & the American Seal of Approval
Friedman ends with his classic Washington maneuver: pinning hope (and blame) on an American president. In this case, Trump—the man who calls famine humanitarian policy and thinks “total victory” is just good branding. According to Friedman, Netanyahu is “duping” Trump into endless war.
As though Trump—who greenlit the starvation strategy, cut UNICEF off the aid routes, and cheered Netanyahu’s “final victory”—were some innocent schoolboy tricked by the crafty Israeli fox. No, Tom. This isn’t assisted suicide. It’s a joint venture. Netanyahu writes the script, and Washington bankrolls the production.
The Real Suicide Note
Friedman wants us to see Israel’s descent as tragic self-destruction. But the suicide note is being written in Gaza’s blood, not in Hebrew ink. And every “tragic mishap,” every starving child, every bombed hospital is not just a stain on Israel’s moral standing—it’s an indictment of every columnist who waited this long to admit what the world already knew.
Israel isn’t just committing homicide, suicide, and fratricide. It’s committing erasure. And erasure isn’t tragic—it’s deliberate.
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