James Risen writes:

The outcomes of the two biggest wars in the world hang in the balance of the American presidential election, even though U.S. troops are not involved in combat in either one.

If Donald Trump wins the election, both wars will get much, much worse.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both want Trump to win the American presidential election so that they can prolong and intensify their brutal wars without the possibility of American interference.

Netanyahu has conducted his war in Gaza believing that the Biden administration can’t rein him in before the presidential election without risking severe damage to the political prospects of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Netanyahu has purposefully sought to put the Democrats in a bind between the conflicting political demands of two components of the party’s base — a progressive constituency appalled by the war and a centrist faction that backs Israel. Netanyahu has thus forced the Biden administration to engage in a difficult balancing act: supporting Israel, while still pushing for a ceasefire and the long-term goal of the creation of a Palestinian state — a compromise stance that has outraged progressives while also upsetting many conservative Jewish voters.

But Netanyahu also knows that if Trump wins, he will give Israel a green light to conduct a far more brutal campaign in Gaza, southern Lebanon, and the West Bank than he has during the Biden administration. While Biden has called for limits on Netanyahu’s conduct of the war, he has ultimately not stood in Israel’s way despite a growing groundswell of opposition to the war within the party. Whether that voter pressure might eventually push Harris to put more limits on Israel is an open question. But under no circumstances will Trump pressure Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire and will never demand that Israel agree to the creation of a Palestinian state. Trump will endorse Netanyahu’s push for Israeli control over all remaining Palestinian territory. Many Israelis now want Trump to win in order to allow for a more aggressive Israeli military campaign; a September poll found that 58 percent of Israelis would vote for Trump if they could. [Continue reading…]