Israel is not happy with the agreement taking shape to end the Iran war. It was no secret that Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu had been pushing US president Donald Trump to renew the fighting, after playing a key role in persuading him to launch two military campaigns against Iran.
But the emerging deal – even though some details are still unknown – is being described by some Israeli commentators as a US “capitulation” with Trump “throwing Israel under the bus”.
During the war the US and Israel closely co-ordinated their approaches but Washington has almost completely excluded Israel from the current negotiations, with Trump saying last week Netanyahu “will do whatever I want”.
Netanyahu told associates that Israel had “limited ability” to influence Trump’s decision-making regarding Iran, according to Reuters. The leader of the left-wing opposition Democrats, Yair Golan, claimed on Monday that Trump no longer cared about Netanyahu. “Netanyahu’s political situation has turned Israel into a regional and global weakling,” he said.
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According to Iranian officials, the nuclear question – of paramount importance for Israel – will only be discussed at a later stage, with no guarantee that Tehran’s stockpile of enriched uranium will be transferred abroad or limits will be imposed on future enrichment.
Regime change has long been discarded as an option and limits on ballistic missile production or ending Iran’s support for regional proxies, such as Hizbullah in Lebanon, also appear to be off the agenda.
According to Israeli sources, Netanyahu told Trump in a weekend phone conversation that Israel would retain its freedom of action against “all threats in all arenas, including Lebanon” and Trump reportedly agreed.
Netanyahu has not commented publicly on the emerging deal but, in what appeared to be an exercise in damage limitation, shared an AI-generated image of him and Trump on X on Sunday, declaring that “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon”.
Israel remains exhausted after more than 2½ years of war on numerous fronts and there was little enthusiasm for another war with Iran and a return to the bomb shelters.
However, the feeling is the deal in the offing with Iran is a missed opportunity that may leave Israel’s regional rival stronger than ever, with the ability to project its power across the Middle East.
Netanyahu’s supporters in the media were quick to blame Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, along with vice president JD Vance, for rushing to sign a deal, but Netanyahu, with elections later this year, will have to explain to the Israeli public why he has failed to achieve the total victory he promised and why his war aims remain empty promises.
