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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refrained from publicly expressing his opposition to the agreement between Iran and the United States. But looking at Israel’s position from all political angles, and the actions of the military in Lebanon, the picture is clear: Israel is angry, and Israel is complaining.
Netanyahu has been wary of US President Donald Trump, knowing that his occasional criticism of Israel’s policies is consistent with allowing Israel to pursue many of its military and political goals, even as the rest of the world isolates the country. War with Iran was his issue – after years of US resistance, Netanyahu convinced the US president to destroy Iran.
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But the war did not go well for the US, and Trump’s decision to accept the agreement – without involving Israel – has raised many concerns that many in Israel consider their “special relationship” with the US, as well as clarifying the power dynamics between the two allies.
Under the US-Iran deal, and the creation of a $300bn The plan to rebuild Iran, the US promises that he and his “allies” will do “an immediate and permanent end to military activities on all sides, including in Lebanon”.
Israel immediately responded to the deal by striking Lebanon, killing at least 47 people on Friday, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health. Four Israeli soldiers were also killed overnight by the Lebanese army, Hezbollah, prompting far-right Israeli Defense Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to declare that “the whole of Lebanon must be burned”.
And yet, by Friday evening, to stop the war it is said to have been agreed upon between Israel and Hezbollah – perhaps after US pressure, and the US-Iran alliance is in danger of collapsing.
Rock is a difficult place
How far will Netanyahu go in insulting the US, itself diplomacy and economics Aid is very important to Israel, and how they can continue to please the Israeli people and politicians who are known to reject the deal, is unclear.
According to a television poll published Thursday, only a small minority of Israelis believe their country has won the war against Iran — an enemy it has, for generations, been told it wants to destroy.
“The deep frustration over the US-Iran understanding is real and deep,” said Israeli political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin. “The Israelis are well aware that none of Netanyahu’s promised goals and overconfidence have been achieved. They believe that the war ended too soon and that something went wrong with the grand plan. They don’t like to sing Trump but they see him as making decisions according to the interests of the US, and many blame Netanyahu for the mistake of trusting Trump.”
The US Vice President, JD Vance, joined the debate on Thursday, addressing Israel and those who oppose the deal in his cabinet directly.
“Donald J Trump is the only leader in the world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this time,” said Vance, referring to the international condemnation that has followed Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza and repeated attacks on its neighbors.
Vance continued, appearing to turn his attention to Ben-Gvir and his right-wing ally, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. “If I were in the Israeli cabinet, I would not be attacking the most powerful ally I have anywhere in the world,” Vance said.
“I can’t remember a time when a US vice president or a president publicly criticized Israel and used that kind of language,” said Yossi Mekelberg of Chatham House, referring to Netanyahu’s criticism of Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Trump. at the G7 meeting on the third.
“Netanyahu understands that he can’t afford to be completely out of touch with the US, but he needs some kind of structure to keep his position stable,” he said. “It’s hard to see a way to get Netanyahu before the elections, other than just playing for time and holding off until the vote is over.”
To that end, the extent to which Smotrich and Ben-Gvir broke with the Prime Minister in criticizing the US-Iran deal, and how they presented his policies, was not well known, Ofer Cassif, a member of the Israeli parliament from the left-wing Hadash party, said.
Netanyahu has been making political capital out of the threat of Iran since the 1990swhen he said for the first time that the country was about to develop nuclear weapons, and Hezbollah, whose rocket was fired in the north of Israel after the attack led by Hamas on October 7, 2023, went far. to twist from his previous failures.
“Both Netanyahu and his thugs, the so-called government, are interested, hindering, hindering and destroying the agreement when it appears that they are not, by selling the issue of safety and security. That is the real issue here,” said Cassif. “Destruction is the goal.”
