Napolitano: Gaza war, billionaire influence are eroding US credibility

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
Today 13:56

US Former Judge Andrew Napolitano tells Al Mayadeen's Proximate Aspect that the war on Gaza and concentrated Zionist media spending are weakening the US' global credibility.

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Judge Andrew Napolitano is seen here, during his interview with Al Mayadeen's The Proximate Aspect. (Screegrab/ Al Mayadeen)

Former New Jersey Superior Court judge Andrew Napolitano told Al Mayadeen’s The Proximate Aspect that the war on Gaza, heavy media investments by Israeli billionaires and Washington’s unpredictable foreign policy are accelerating a global realignment that is weakening US credibility at home and abroad.

Gaza, US domestic politics, and the PR defeat

Speaking to Al Mayadeen host and editor Zeinab Al Saffar, Napolitano said the war on Gaza has reshaped opinion across large segments of the US public, especially among younger voters, producing a rare bipartisan surge of sympathy for Palestinian statehood and a broad condemnation of "Israel’s" conduct.

He argued the shift is not limited to traditional left-wing constituencies and that even elements of the president’s base are now openly critical of Washington’s alignment with the Netanyahu government.

“It has had a dramatic impact, certainly among young people,” Napolitano said, adding that support for a Palestinian state and condemnation of what many in the United States now call a genocide now runs “about 80 to 85%... among people of both political parties under the age of 40.”

“Even the president's so-called MAGA base is harshly critical of his attachment to the Netanyahu regime and of his funding the genocide,” he added, referring to American conservative and right-wing supporters of the US president.

He concluded that, in the US public relations battle over the war, “the Netanyahu regime has failed miserably.”

Ceasefire, Hamas, and the nationalist debate

In Gaza, Napolitano described the recent ceasefire architecture as a deal “not negotiated with one of the parties involved,” calling it essentially a Trump-Netanyahu initiative that neither side intends fully to respect.

While he said "Israel" used the arrangement to secure the return of captives, he framed Hamas as a political actor that, in many American conversations, is increasingly seen as fighting an occupying power.

“From the Hamas perspective, they are freedom fighters seeking to repel an unjust occupier,” Napolitano said, noting that this characterization, once taboo in US discourse, has entered more mainstream political discussion.

“That's how badly the Israelis have lost the public relations war here,” Napolitano underlined.

Read more: Gaza and the death of morality

Billionaire influence and algorithms

On the role of wealth and media in shaping US narratives, Napolitano warned of a concentrated influence that reaches into Congress and the White House, yet he maintained that such spending has not reversed the broader shift in public opinion.

“All of that Zionist money, and it is in the many, many billions, has not succeeded in winning the PR war here,” he said.

At the same time, he defended alternative platforms, arguing that they will continue to “articulate the truth as we understand it to be” even as algorithmic and corporate chokeholds complicate activism.

Russia visit and a possible grand reset

Drawing on a recent trip to Russia, Napolitano said he encountered Russian officials who are pushing for a comprehensive realignment, a “grand reset” that would involve the United States, Russia, and China.

He argued that sanctions have not broken Russia’s economy or military readiness and questioned Washington’s long-term efficacy in relying on punitive economic tools.

“The Americans note the sanctions have not laid a glove on Russia,” he said, adding that ordinary life in Moscow appeared unaffected by the measures.

US hegemony, Venezuela and the limits of intervention

Napolitano was sharply critical of US hegemonic overreach, arguing that Washington has pursued interventions that harm both target countries and American interests.

Referring to plans for Venezuela, he said, “Venezuela doesn't pose any threat whatsoever to the national security of the United States,” and described coercive designs to control oil resources as unlawful and counterproductive.

“It is not a central producer of drugs, illicit drugs that make their way here,” he said.

He warned that such policies spread “violence and death” rather than democracy.

Asia, tariffs, and the erosion of the dollar’s dominance

Responding to questions about a strategic pivot in Asia, Napolitano warned that unilateral US trade measures and tariffs are driving economic cooperation among China, Japan, and South Korea and weakening the dollar’s unique position.

He argued the United States is abandoning free trade in practice and predicted that Washington’s tactics, including tariffs, are accelerating the expansion of alternative economic blocs and payment systems, with long-term consequences for US financial leadership.

“I think the president is ill-advised and is doing the wrong thing with the tariffs,” Napolitano underlined.

“When the United States goes about the world, whether it's Venezuela or Ukraine, looking for monsters to slay, it doesn't spread democracy, it spreads violence and death,” he said in the context of the US' prioritization of a dominant posture, even in financial and trade policy.

Advice to Arab leaders and final message to Gaza

Advising regional leaders, Napolitano urged caution in trusting Washington’s promises, “trust but verify,” he said, citing past incidents in which US diplomatic engagement preceded violence.

“The United States lured Hezbollah negotiators into a trap so the Israelis could murder them,” he said, referring to the Israeli assassination in which Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was martyred.

He also urged Arab states to support Palestinian self-determination.

“The Arab leaders should support the right to self-determination of the Palestinians, and they should support the right of the Palestinians to have their own state come what may,” the former New Jersey Superior Court judge said.

Addressing the people of Gaza directly, he offered solidarity, “There are many more people in the world who feel your pain and understand the horrors that were visited upon you. Stay the course. Stay the plow. Keep fighting for freedom.”