“I’m a military correspondent, but I would be totally happy if there was world peace and I had to change jobs.” — Yonah Jeremy Bob
Oil hit $100 a barrel (again) today. Donald Trump confessed, with uncharacteristic honesty, that the Iran war won’t end until after the November elections. And while Israel’s war with Iran ended back in April, America’s hasn’t, with the US and Iran shooting at each other most of the time since February. So, with the 25th anniversary of 9/11 tomorrow, is this about to become America’s new forever war?
Yonah Jeremy Bob is the senior military correspondent at The Jerusalem Post and co-author of In the War Room, the inside story of Israel’s fight against the Iranian “axis.” The Baltimore-born and Jerusalem-based journalist confesses that he watches this conflict with “two brains.” For Israelis of both left and right, it’s a war of survival. His US brain, however, has the more down-to-earth reading of a conflict that offers no existential threat.
So is this the new forever war? America after 9/11 “was at war for about a decade,” Bob responds. A nation in post-traumatic shock. A quarter of a century later, most Americans think of today’s Iran war in terms of domestic gas prices. Thus Trump’s presentation of the conflict in the context of an election calendar is not a forever war. Like all things Trumpian, it’s just another transactional campaign. As for the senior military correspondent himself, he’d be totally happy, Bob confesses, if world peace put him out of a job.
Five Takeaways
• The Split Screen. Two brains, two wars: the US and Iran have traded fire nonstop since February; Israel’s war ended April 7. What agitates Israelis now is Britain’s West Bank sanctions — and Witkoff and Kushner’s mixed ledger.
• The Transactional Ally. Israeli aircraft en route to bomb Iran were recalled mid-flight after Trump tweeted “those aircraft better come back.” Three levels of pressure — and at the top, Netanyahu always backs off.
• The Book Bibi Doesn’t Like. The early-war Netanyahu was the hesitant man in the room — three weeks to convince him to invade — before flipping into its most aggressive. “We’re in touch… we got an earful.”
• Between Genocide and Mistakes. The ex-lawyer’s answer: unequivocally no on genocide — then his own arithmetic: 35,000 to 45,000 civilians dead. “Too much.” 150 criminal probes open. And the mean finger points at Ben-Gvir.
• The Nuclear Scorecard — and the Clock. The weapons group destroyed, 20,000 centrifuges mostly gone, the uranium under watched rubble. And on 9/11’s eve: America’s forever war lasted a decade — this one has a clock.
About Keen On America
Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen.
Website: https://keenon.tv/ Substack: https://keenon.substack.com/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@KeenOnShow
Buy In the War Room: simonandschuster.com
Chapters:
00:00:31 Introduction: $100 oil and Trump’s confession
00:02:37 Two brains: the split screen between Washington and Jerusalem
00:04:32 Witkoff, Kushner, and “blind amateurism”
00:06:56 Trump’s deafening silence — and the West Bank sanctions
00:07:41 The transactional ally: three levels of pressure
00:09:48 “Those aircraft better come back”
00:11:34 With friends like these: India, the UAE, and isolation
00:14:46 Are the Abraham Accords still alive?
00:17:53 Why Sinwar invaded — and when
00:20:08 The warnings Netanyahu ignored
00:22:58 The conspiracy question: an unequivocal no
00:23:25 The hesitant Netanyahu: the chapters Bibi doesn’t like
00:26:13 The genocide question — answered as a lawyer
00:29:53 Between genocide and mistakes: 150 criminal probes
00:32:42 The insiders’ sadness
00:34:10 Ben-Gvir and the violence the police won’t stop
00:36:46 The coherent story: Israel versus the Iranian axis
00:39:50 Did Netanyahu always want this war?
00:42:06 Two wars: the American failure, the Israeli success
00:45:39 The nuclear scorecard: centrifuges, rubble, cat-and-mouse
00:48:58 Regime change: the message that backfired
00:51:46 A forever war? The 9/11 answer
00:54:41 “I would be totally happy if there was world p