US and Israel normalize scandal: The Era of 'Everythinggate'

Late April, the Hondurasgate platform and Spanish media outlet Canal Red began leaking recorded audio accusing the US and Israel of intervention in Latin America. A batch of tapes shows Israel paying to secure the release of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who is serving 45 years for drug trafficking. According to Hondurasgate, Hernandez was to play a key role in US-Israeli military and economic plans for the region.

The name Hondurasgate echoes Watergate, the political scandal that rocked Washington in the 1970s. Yet this scandal has not caused a stir. Western media largely ignored it, though many Spanish-language outlets covered it. The reason may be that the US and Israel have a long history of dirty dealings in Latin America—from arming right-wing dictatorships to training death squads in El Salvador—making these revelations no longer shocking. Or the world has deteriorated to a point where nothing surprises us anymore.

Hernandez, a convicted criminal, was pardoned in December by US President Donald Trump, himself a convicted criminal. A month later, Trump oversaw the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on fabricated drug terrorism charges. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the US military's 'perfect' operation in Caracas, despite its illegality—along with Trump's new tactic of blowing up ships near Venezuela and extrajudicially executing those aboard.

Immediately after the Maduro incident, Trump launched a campaign to strangle Cuba. In late February, the US and Israel initiated war with Iran, plunging the Middle East and pushing the planet to the brink of apocalypse. On April 7, the US president warned Iran that 'a civilization will die tonight, never to be revived.'

Add to that Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza, with US backing and despite a nominal 'ceasefire,' claiming nearly 73,000 Palestinian lives. An Al Jazeera Arabic investigation revealed that thousands of Palestinians have been 'vaporized' by US-made thermobaric and incendiary munitions. Israel also continues mass killings in Lebanon, destroying the country's south despite a fake ceasefire. Meanwhile, Paula White-Cain, head of the White House Faith Office and Trump's spiritual adviser, urged tithing 10% of income to help Israel 'rise up.'

Daily news now resembles a sick version of the satirical site The Onion. The deluge of scandal has a numbing effect: bombarded by shocking events from every direction, we no longer feel shock. Scandal is the new norm. Call it Everythinggate—'Everything is a scandal.'

In the past, Israel always slaughtered Arabs, the US always caused chaos everywhere, and politicians always said ridiculous things. But Trump and Netanyahu take it to a new level, partly due to megalomaniacal delusions that allow them to commit atrocities with impunity, and partly because international aggression can distract the public from domestic scandals. 'Handle corruption charges or Epstein files while you can commit genocide and bomb Iran?'—that's their logic.

On May 7, Trump posted a typical rant: describing the US attack on Iranian drones, 'falling into the ocean as beautifully as a butterfly falls into a grave!' He called Iran a nation led by 'crazy people'—despite having posted AI-generated images of himself as Jesus or in swim trunks in the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool. Scrolling through Trump's social media, I sometimes recall sensational headlines from childhood tabloids: 'PRESIDENT CLINTON RIDES UFO!', 'HILLARY CLINTON ADOPTS ALIEN CHILD!' But today's news goes beyond that.

A recent example: on May 6, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir celebrated his 50th birthday with a cake decorated with a golden noose, honoring a new law that allows the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners but not for Jewish citizens. Netanyahu called to congratulate, joking that Ben-Gvir looked 17. Amid all these scandals, normalizing scandal itself is a scandal.