Long-time Jewish New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman spoke on Saturday with CNN about the ongoing war between Iran and the US and Israel, and shared his moral dilemma regarding the conflict.
In the interview, Friedman tells Michael Smerconish that he finds himself in a situation where, on the one hand, "I really want to see Iran defeated militarily because this regime is a terrible regime for its people and the region. And nothing would improve the region more than the replacement of this regime with a regime that is focused on enabling its people to realize their full potential, and integrating peacefully with other countries, and stop occupying Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. So I'm all for that."
On the other hand, Friedman is troubled because those whom he sees as the "wrong people" are leading the fight against Iran. "I really don't want to see Bibi Netanyahu or Donald Trump politically strengthened by this war because they are two awful human beings."
According to Friedman, Netanyahu and Trump are "both engaged in anti-democratic projects in their own countries. They're both alleged crooks. They are terrible, terrible people, doing terrible things to America's standing in the world and Israel's standing in the world."
For that reason, he says, "I really find myself torn. I want to see Iran militarily defeated, but I do not want to see these two terrible people strengthened."
Friedman's remarks were met with much criticism online. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee wrote on X: "What kind of sick hate must Tom Friedman have that he roots for the USA to lose to a terrorist regime that has killed thousands of Americans? I didn’t vote for Obama, but I praised him for taking out Bin Laden."
Foundation for Defense of Democracies CEO Mark Dubowitz commented, "Good for Tom Friedman for being honest. He hates Trump and Bibi so much that he doesn’t want them to win the war against the regime in Iran."