Nearly 600 of Israel's former top brass say only Donald Trump can stop the West Bank spiralling out of control — and they're asking him to do it to Netanyahu's face.

Right, this is quite the intervention.

Hundreds of former Israeli military, diplomatic and intelligence officials have written directly to US President Donald Trump, urging him to put pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over what they call “settler terror” in the occupied West Bank.

The letter, published on Tuesday, was organised by the lobby group Commanders for Israel’s Security (CIS) and signed by almost 600 retired officials. Their message was blunt: unless this violence is stopped quickly, it could set the whole region alight.

“Unless arrested swiftly and decisively, escalating violence in the West Bank is poised to ignite the region and carries severe ramifications for both Israeli security and U.S. regional interests,” the group wrote.

“It is our professional judgment that no one but you, Mr President, can avert this calamity,” they added.

So, who are CIS? According to cbinews.tv, they are a Zionist movement made up of more than 550 retired Israeli army colonels and generals, plus equivalent senior ranks from Mossad, Shin Bet, the Israeli Police, the foreign service and other corps. Their stated mission is “securing Israel’s future as the strong democratic home of the Jewish people”.

And they didn’t hold back on where they think the problem is coming from. The group said it was “no secret” that certain members of the government “orchestrate much of this chaos”, including by shielding settlers and Israeli forces from legal scrutiny.

In fact, CIS warned that this “swell in Jewish settler terror activity” risks consequences that could be even more catastrophic than the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and everything that followed.

The timing is no coincidence. As cbinews.tv reports, the letter landed after a weekend of widespread pogroms and violence by Israeli settlers across the occupied West Bank, following a deadly shootout in the town of Tal in which two Israelis and four Palestinians were killed.

The group is calling on Trump to raise the issue directly with Netanyahu when the two meet in Washington, DC on Tuesday.

It’s Netanyahu’s seventh trip to the White House during Trump’s second term, with his visit coming as fighting between Iran and the US has been paused to allow for diplomatic efforts.

Credit: Reporting via cbinews.tv

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