Big Deal    

When Israel’s Six Day War leader Levi Eshkol had something complex to express, he would lapse into his native Yiddish. Nothing was more complex than the country that he led, so unsurprisingly he gave it a name in mamma loshen.

“Shimshon der Nebach” was his pithy moniker for the young state, reflecting Israel’s brand of swagger and neurosis, military might with existential fear.

Samson the Weak is a good framework to understand a widespread sense of unease across Israel at Donald Trump’s Middle East visit last week.

Even after October 7, Israel remains a country capable of decapitating a fearsome terror army by exploding beeper. Its alliance with the world’s superpower isn’t in doubt, and neither is Donald Trump’s backing.