Decoding Trump And Netanyahu’s Good Cop, Bad Cop Ploy

Is there a rift between Israel and the US as their war of choice against Iran enters a third week? Speculation began when US President Donald Trump said he was not in the loop over Israel’s decision to strike Iran’s South Pars gas fields, which led to a dangerous new level of escalation of the war, with Iran quickly replying with an attack on Qatar and Saudi Arabian oil and gas facilities.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper described it as “the latest dispute that erupted publicly on Thursday," just hours before  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that he and Trump were perfectly coordinated on the war’s goals and how to prosecute it. The paper quoted him as saying “you couldn’t stick a pin’’ between him and Trump. 

But talking to reporters the US President said:  “I told them, don't do that,” Trump said. “We get along great, it's coordinated, but on occasion, he will do something and if I don't like it,” the President added, repeating he had no knowledge of the attack. He had taken the same position in a social media post in Truth Social. This is perhaps the first time that the US President had categorically washed his hands off from the Israeli action, leading to talk of differences between the two leaders.

In an earlier occasion, the Trump administration was evasive. Israel has ordered the aerial bombardment on oil fields near Tehran that led to toxic fumes and acid rain over the capital city. American officials later said that Netanyahu wanted “sights of chaos’’ around Tehran to send a message to Iranians that their government was not in control. “The Israel Defense Forces played down the importance of the friction, and high-ranking officers insisted that the Americans' anger had not been conveyed to them personally,’’ Haaretz reported.  Trump had said at that time that he had asked Israel not to touch oil infrastructure.

But this time around, not just Trump, but his friend and ally Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backed the US leader saying that  Israel acted alone, adding  “President Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks,” Netanyahu said.

But that narrative quickly unravelled when  AXIOS,  a well-respected  US news website reported that two American officials contradicted the President and admitted that Trump was told about the attack and approved it.

Many believe this is a good cop, bad cop strategy that the US and Israel have adopted. While the U.S. publicly calls to avoid striking energy hubs to prevent economic shocks, critics argue this is a performative stance designed for international consumption, while the underlying objective remains crippling opponents' resources. This dynamic implies that the U.S. good cop role provides political cover and diplomatic breathing room for the bad cop actions of Israel, with both pursuing the same ultimate outcome.

"The same pattern. The same injustice. The same West-blessed impunity," says Chimazuru Nnadi-Oforgu, a London-based Nigerian author  on U.S-Israeli action in Iran, via Maktoob Media. Few in the Global South buy any difference between the US and Israel.

It is hard to imagine Israel doing this without getting a green signal from Washington. Considering how much Netanyahu is dependent on the US, the wily prime minister is unlikely to challenge Trump in the middle of a war. Netanyahu has succeeded in dragging the US into a war with Iran, which every other US President had refused, and is unlikely to muck up his chances. He also knows that Israel’s role in US politics is increasingly being questioned and perhaps in future its hold on the White House and the American political establishment will weaken.

It is quite apparent that Iran is a formidable enemy, despite being bombed repeatedly, its political and military leadership decapitated, no air defence system or sophisticated weapons to match that of the US and Israel, it has succeeded in continuing the fight.

 It would be difficult for Israel to carry on the war without Trump’s strong military, financial and diplomatic backing.  The partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz combined with Iran’s counter attack on oil and gas infrastructure across the Gulf-Arab nations stretching from Qatar to Saudi Arabia , UAE,  Bahrain and Kuwait, has sent shock waves across the world's energy market.

Trump possibly wanted to distance himself from the hits on oil infrastructure though the US did so while striking at the Kharg Island facilities in Iran. Both the US and Israel are in this together and the good cop bad cop analogy serves both countries well.