‘Destruction is the goal’: Israel steers between the US, Iran, and Lebanon
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has restrained himself from openly displaying his opposition to the memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States. But
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has restrained himself from openly displaying his opposition to the memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States. But looking to the positions of Israelis from across the political spectrum, and the military’s actions in Lebanon, the picture is clear: Israel is angry, and Israel is worried. Netanyahu has always been careful with US President Donald Trump, knowing that his occasional criticisms of Israeli policy have been coupled with allowing Israel to pursue many of its military and political goals, even as the rest of the world isolates the country. The war with Iran was a case in point – after years of US refusal, Netanyahu had finally convinced a US president to jointly attack Iran. But that war has gone badly for the US, and Trump’s decision to accept a deal – without any apparent input from Israel – has upended many of the assumptions underpinning what many in Israel see as their “special relationship” with the US, as well as making clear the power dynamics between the two allies. Under the terms of the US-Iran agreement, as well as creating a $300bn reconstruction plan for Iran, the US commits that it and “its allies” will undertake the “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon”.
Israel immediately responded to that agreement by pounding Lebanon, killing at least 47 people on Friday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health. Four Israeli soldiers were also killed overnight by the armed Lebanese group, Hezbollah, prompting Israel’s far-right Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to say that “all of Lebanon must burn”. And yet, by Friday evening, a ceasefire is reported to have been agreed between Israel and Hezbollah – likely after US pressure, with the US-Iran deal at risk of collapsing. Rock and a hard place How far Netanyahu can go in his defiance of the US, whose diplomatic and financial support are critical to Israel, and how far he can go in appeasing an Israeli public and political establishment widely understood to reject the deal, is unclear. According to a television poll published on Thursday, only a small minority of Israelis believe their country has won the war against Iran – an opponent that, for generations, they had been told was bent on their destruction. “The depth of disappointment over the US-Iran memorandum of understanding is very real and deep,” Israeli pollster and political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin said. “Israelis are fully aware that none of their goals as articulated and overconfidently promised by Netanyahu have been achieved. They believe the war ended prematurely and that something went wrong with the grand plan.
The BriefWire