JERUSALEM (Reuters): Benjamin Netanyahu bet that his joint war alongside Donald Trump would topple Iran’s clerical rulers and bolster himself ahead of elections at home, as the architect of a US-Israeli alliance that would reshape the Middle East.
Instead, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister is on a collision course with Trump as the US president seeks to extricate himself from the war, with both men’s goals unmet and Israeli military operations tied down in Lebanon.
For now, Israeli officials have been cautious in public for fear of angering their most important ally, known for being prickly towards critics. But in private conversations, the frustration is clear. The preliminary agreement is “terrible for Israel,” said one senior Israeli official. “And there is no one in the Israeli leadership who views it otherwise, from the prime minister to the chief of staff.”
Washington says that over the next 60 days, when a ceasefire is in place, it will negotiate full terms that will address US and Israeli concerns, especially over Iran’s nuclear programme. But Israeli officials said they thought the negotiating period under the deal was likely to be extended, tying Israel’s hands from taking military action.
Netanyahu and Trump have repeatedly clashed over Israel’s refusal to constrain its pursuit of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
At the start of the month, Trump described Netanyahu as “f*****g crazy” in an angry phone call, ordering him not to strike Beirut while the US was seeking a deal with Iran.
Hours before the US and Iran announced their interim deal, Israel hit the Lebanese capital again on Sunday, after rockets were launched at Israel from Lebanon, fire Trump described as “small and meaningless”.
Netanyahu said that Israel has emerged “strong and steady,” with a leadership that stands firm and wise. At a press conference in Jerusalem late on Monday, he acknowledged that he and Trump have sometimes had their differences.
“He is the president of the United States, I am the prime minister of Israel. We many times see eye-to-eye and there are times when we see eye-to-eye less so. I am in charge of Israel’s security interests,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu, facing autumn elections he is projected to lose, may be more willing to defy Trump as he contends with an Israeli public that opinion polls show has grown sceptical of the US president’s commitment to Israel’s security.
“This is a pretty stark moment of divergence of interests,” said Dan Shapiro, a former US ambassador to Israel under the Obama administration, now with the Atlantic Council think tank.
“He will try to not openly oppose (the deal), so as not to get into a brawl with Trump,” said Shapiro. “But he will indicate Israel is not bound by it, and Israel reserves its rights.”
Two other issues that Netanyahu and Trump had both declared as justifications for the war at its outset — curbing Iran’s missile programme and ending its support for regional armed groups — are not thought to be on the agenda during those talks.
Netanyahu, who often clashed with Washington under the administrations of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, has long portrayed himself to the Israeli public as being uniquely adept in dealing with Trump.
“(Netanyahu) will be unable to sell this agreement to the Israeli public,” Jonathan Rynhold, a political scientist at Bar-Ilan University, near Tel Aviv said. “The best that he can hope for is that they fail to reach an agreement and the war restarts to Israel’s advantage in 60 days.”
