No, Thomas Friedman, data centers are not the key to Middle East peace
Blaming Israel for everything...as usual
As the 12th century philosopher Maimonides once said, “Nothing tastes so sweet as a Sunday morning takedown of Thomas Friedman’s latest New York Times column.” Friedman’s most recent screed, “Israel Has a Choice to Make: Rafah or Riyadh” is certainly worthy of the Maimonidean treatment for just how extensively Friedman misunderstands what is really going on.
“Rafah or Riyadh” is his newest cri de coeur, a passionate appeal for Israel to make a historic choice between either invading Rafah in Gaza or achieving normalization with Saudi Arabia (the capital is Riyadh). Friedman ends his piece with a pompous, patronizing scold: “I totally respect that Israelis are the ones who will have to live with the choice. I just want to make sure they know they have one.”
Good thing they have Friedman to tell them about it. The Prophet of the Potomac argues that Israel can either attempt to finish off Hamas (which Friedman argues is not likely) and thus earn the United States’ lasting enmity, or it can recognize that its own best interest lies in unilaterally cease-firing so the United States can cut a sweet deal with the Saudis that will maybe possibly eventually lead to security for Israel. The Jewish State will then be enveloped in a “security architecture” that might be able to stand up to Iran — but also, Friedman acknowledges, might not work. It’s hard to say.
Friedman admonishes Israel that invading Rafah will crush three “vital projects” to enhance Israel’s security. The first is an Arab peacekeeping force to replace Israeli troops. There are three caveats, though. There needs to be a permanent cease-fire, but Friedman fails to mention that Hamas is refusing to agree. Friedman also bets that “most” Palestinian factions will agree to these outside troops, which I’m not convinced is a safe assumption given how much, historically, Palestinians distrust Arab leaders. And third, while this force isn’t on the table right now, Friedman assures us that it’s “under active consideration.” This really doesn’t sound like an edifice on which Israel should hang its future.
The second project is where Friedman really loses the plot in a turn to the absurd. This second component is a “U.S.-Saudi-Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic-security deal” which mostly rests on a mutual defense pact between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. The U.S. would agree to defend Riyadh against the Iranians, give the Saudis “streamlined” access to America’s most advanced weapons, and allow the Saudis to process their own uranium for a civilian nuclear program.
The sweetener? Data centers! Yes, data centers are Friedman’s icing on the cake! See, the United States has run out of room to build data centers, says Friedman, because he has never been to Nevada. Between the space requirements and the energy costs necessary for tech companies to develop AI, data centers are too hard to build here. But if Israel stops fighting, leaves Hamas in Gaza, and recognizes a Palestinian state in exchange for normalization with Saudi Arabia, U.S. tech companies will be able to stretch data centers clear across the Saudi desert without worrying about competing Chinese investment, which the Saudis will agree to curb as part of this whole incredible package.
It’s a wonder Israel hasn’t leapt at this extraordinary opportunity. Doesn’t Netanyahu realize that he can limit Chinese investments in Saudi Arabia?!
The third project is this huge, multi-pronged, complex new “security architecture” to counter Iranian missile threats. Friedman thinks that what is necessary here is for Biden to offer Israel this Rafah-or-Riyadh choice “publicly so that every Israeli can see it.”
I’m here to tell Friedman that the Israelis don’t need Biden to tell them anything. They see it. Chinese investments and AI data centers pale in comparison to defending themselves from a genocidal enemy that vows never to cease-fire, never to end the war, and never to release all the hostages. And yet Friedman has a far more cynical take.
Friedman insists that Israelis are only still pursuing this war out of “revenge” as their “hardened hearts” can’t see or care about all the children Israel is killing. He doesn’t quote a single Israeli to back this up. So let me. I recently spoke with a young Israeli woman who told me, “I used to be totally left. Peace and coexistence and the Palestinians are my sisters — all that stuff. But after October 7, not anymore. I was wrong and my parents were wrong and I’ll never believe in that again. I know two of the hostages. I’m not right-wing but I’m not left anymore. I don’t want people to die but I do want to destroy Hamas so they’ll never do this again.” Does that sound like revenge to you? I’ve never heard a single revenge fantasy from any Israeli I’ve ever talked to (maybe I’m talking to the wrong people). Instead what I hear is a determination to destroy Hamas so October 7 can’t happen again — that’s why Israelis are risking so much, and sacrificing so much.
While Friedman cannot put himself in the mindset of Israelis, he confidently tells us that he knows, through undefined “conversations,” what Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is thinking: that Israel is needlessly killing civilians, inspiring more terrorists, empowering Iran, fomenting instability, and driving away “much-needed foreign investment.” Israel needs to just get out of Gaza as quickly as possible. What a surprise to find out that Israel is, in Friedman’s remarkable mind-meld with bin Salman, squarely responsible for the illnesses of the Middle East. It’s such a boring trope at this point.
Since Friedman deigns to divine what bin Salman is thinking, let me take a stab at putting words in Netanyahu’s head. When the Americans, Europeans, Arabs, and Thomas Friedman insist that Israel is responsible for the postwar political plan of a Palestinian state, Netanyahu thinks, “Well, okay, since I can’t force Hamas to give up, and I can’t force the Palestinian Authority to be strong enough to take their place, and I can’t force the West and the Arabs to put their own troops into Gaza as a peacekeeping force and take over the place after we leave, and since I can only control my own country whose goal is to prevent October 7 from happening again, then I’m not really sure what my options are except, well, I guess we’ll just have to take over Gaza so we can guarantee Hamas doesn’t rise up again.”
If Israel ends up reoccupying Gaza (a terrible idea that I hope doesn’t happen), it will only be partly because of the influence of Netanyahu’s far-right coalition. It will mostly be because the rest of the world isn’t providing Israel with any other solid options. Instead they are offering a vague, “Bibi, declare a Palestinian state and maybe there will be a new security architecture in place some years from now, and this will be a great deal for the U.S. and the Saudis, and hopefully someone can stop Iran, but we’re not sure about any of this and anyway this is still all on you.” What a deal.
Friedman, like others, views the Palestinian state as a messianic Valhalla that will remake the world for peace, justice, and democracy; thus is Israel’s stubborn refusal to agree the source of all bad outcomes. Microsoft’s AI not working? It’s because Israel didn’t create a Palestinian state. Chinese investments crowding out U.S. influence in the Arab world? It’s because Israel didn’t create a Palestinian state. Islamic jihadists radicalizing children to murder nonbelievers? It’s because Israel didn’t create a Palestinian state. Trader Joe’s out of matzah? You know who to blame.
Israelis don’t look at the map and see the possibilities for data centers in the Saudi desert. They see themselves surrounded by jihadi terrorists bent on their elimination: Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza and the West Bank, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, the Houthis in Yemen, more terror groups in Iraq and the Sinai Peninsula, and on and on all the way to Tehran. They’re staring down the ongoing scourge of Hamas, the intolerable captivity of the hostages, the distinct possibility of a new war with Hezbollah, and now ballistic missiles coming from Iran.
My problem with Thomas Friedman is that he is obsessed with magnificent visions to realign the planet’s political map, in which Israel’s decision to accept a Palestinian state is the single foundation stone upon which this will all either be built or crumble into dust. But Israelis just want their hostages home and Hamas no longer a threat. There is genuine, passionate debate in Israel about how best to make that happen, and the future is uncertain and terrifying. At stake for Israel is the lives of their children. AI data centers and Saudi nuclear energy don’t even appear on the radar.
I totally respect that Friedman wants the Israelis to care about his grand political vision. I just want to make sure he knows that they don’t.
This Week’s Episode: Getting to a Palestinian State, Part 3
I’m throwing out a controversial idea: bring back the mandate system to control Gaza after the war.
The last two episodes considered what changes Israelis and Palestinians need to make to achieve Palestinian statehood. Today we’re looking at the rest of the world — the US, Europe, and especially the moderate Arab countries. If they really want to see a Palestinian state, they need to work together, put aside platitudes, and gird for the ongoing battle against Islamic Jihadism.
Find the podcast episode here, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Listen to the Israeli episode here.
Listen the Palestinian episode here.
Find today’s written transcript below:
Episode 179 Transcript: Getting to a Palestinian State, Part 3
One of the strange aspects of Palestinian statehood is the divergence between the protagonists and the stakeholders. That is, between the United States and Europe, for whom Palestinian statehood is holy gospel; and the Israelis and Palestinians, who don’t particularly want a Palestinian state, or outright reject it. For the West, Palestinian statehood i…
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Picture of the Day
Folds and creases in the Negev Desert near Sde Boker.
Photo: Jason Harris
