VIDEO: Trump’s Words Mean Nothing Without Action on Israel
In a series of interviews with Al Jazeera on June 8-9, 2026, Phyllis Bennis, director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, delivered a clear-eyed analysis of the crisis between Israel, Iran, and Lebanon — and why the ceasefire the world is watching may be more illusion than reality.
On Trump’s widely reported warning to Netanyahu — “Be careful or you’ll be on your own very soon” — Phyllis cuts through the noise:
“I think the words could be significant if they were matched by actions. What we see now are a set of words that are not backed up by actions. As long as the United States continues to send tens of billions of dollars to Israel, as it has since the genocide began against Gaza back in October of 2023, and as long as they’re sending billions of dollars directly to the Israeli military, and as long as they’re protecting Israel from being held accountable in the International Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court, as long as those actions don’t change, the words just don’t mean very much.”
She argues this pattern is not new:
“This is very much the same thing that we saw during the first years of the genocide under President Biden, and then later under President Trump, where they would say, ‘Please stop killing so many Palestinians,’ but continuing to send virtually unlimited bombs and bombers and weapons of all sorts, as well as huge amounts of money from the U.S. taxpayers. As long as that continues, there’s really no reason that Netanyahu should assume that he has to worry about the words that sound very good to a U.S. domestic audience.”
On Iran’s decision to launch ballistic missiles at Israel, Phyllis says Tehran was making a deliberate point: “Iran wants to be taken seriously when it says we have red lines. One of the red lines is that any ceasefire that’s signed off on between the U.S. and Iran must include a ceasefire in Lebanon. It must prevent Israel from continuing its assault on South Lebanon.” Iran’s measured response — 11 missiles, all intercepted, no casualties — was itself a signal: “They’re showing that they can control the amount of weaponry, but that they are not going to simply sit back and abide by somebody else’s word.”
On Israel’s Dahiya doctrine and whether it retains its deterrent power against Iran, Phyllis is direct:
“The so-called Dahiya doctrine is based on the idea not just of deterrence, but overwhelming force that will kill civilians, that will be deliberately disproportionate, in complete violation of international law. That’s the notion of what they call mowing the grass — that at any time in any of the surrounding countries, Israeli troops can steal land, can kill civilians, can settle new settlers there.”
She argues Netanyahu is now caught between two competing pressures: his political credibility at home depends on continuing to go after Iran, while Trump wants to declare victory and move on. “In the past, those two things merged pretty easily. Right now, they don’t.”
On whether any ceasefire can hold without including Palestine, Phyllis is unequivocal: “There has been no ceasefire in Gaza. There is still a genocide in Gaza — that is what we are seeing.” She notes that the impunity Israel has enjoyed over two and a half years of the Gaza genocide directly enabled the broader regional war: “The fact that they had not faced any serious accountability — that has led to the war that we’re now seeing between the US, Israel, and Iran.”
The U.S. has sent close to $33 billion to Israel since the genocide began in October 2023, she points out. “As long as the money continues to flow, as long as the arms continue to flow, there’s no reason in the world that anyone should expect Netanyahu or anyone else in Israel to stop the war against Iran, to stop the war against Lebanon, to stop occupying more land.”
Her demand is simple — and grounded in international law: “When he says there should be an end to the shooting, that has to mean, if he is serious about wanting a ceasefire, he has to stop sending weapons.”
On the broader regional picture, Phyllis warns that a U.S.-Iran deal alone will not bring peace: “It’s not going to be enough to have the US and Iran sign off on a ceasefire deal of their own, allowing Israel to go ahead and continue to escalate its occupation. There has to be a regional solution here.”
Watch Phyllis’s full interviews below:
Gaza and the Question of a Region-Wide Ceasefire
No Ceasefires Right Now Are Dependable
Trump’s Warning to Netanyahu: Words Without Actions
Al Jazeera news bulletin interview, June 9
