The Israeli people are desperate to hear some straight talk about what the burgeoning deal between the US and Iran means for them.
Instead, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a superficial campaign speech on Monday night during his televised address to the nation.
We deserve more. We have endured two major conflicts with the Iranian regime: the ’12-day war’ last June, and beginning on February 28th this year, for 40 days (with a one-day flare-up last week), we’ve spent hours in shelters as Iranian ballistic missiles rained down indiscriminately in attempts to kill as many Israeli civilians as possible. Lives were lost, homes were destroyed, and nerves were frayed.
Is the hardship Israel has faced worth it?
We need to know whether the suffering and hardship we’ve faced were worth it. Instead, we learned from the prime minister that he himself doesn’t yet know the details of the deal that US President Donald Trump has agreed to with the Iranian regime.
That disclosure, made as an aside during the question-and-answer portion of the press conference, reveals a dizzying fall from the unprecedented partnership between Netanyahu and Trump, forged and displayed throughout the conflict with Iran.
As former Israeli ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, wrote this week, “Less than four months ago, American forces stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the IDF in the most dramatic display ever of the US-Israel alliance… Our leaders, too, appeared to be totally in lockstep in setting the war’s ultimate goals of overthrowing Iran’s jihadist regime, eliminating its nuclear and ballistic capabilities, and ending its support for terror. Netanyahu’s friendship with Trump seemed deep and unbreakable.”
Fast forward to the present, and Trump has called Netanyahu “f****** crazy,” reckless, and lacking judgment. Throughout the negotiations that directly affect Israel’s future and its ability to deal with its enemies – uranium, ballistic missiles, Iran’s terror proxies – Israel was kept out of the loop. Who knows if these issues were even discussed?
Instead of addressing the concerns we all have about the deal, Netanyahu basically ignored it on Monday night in a transparent effort at damage control before the details emerged.
He dismissed Trump’s criticism as something that happens in the best of families. He then recounted his career-long efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and took credit for the post-October 7th rebound by Israel’s security forces that have done physical and economic damage to Iran’s capabilities and to its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah.
Truth, or a diversion from the details?
All of that may be true, or it may be a diversion from the devastating details of the memorandum of understanding that could erase those gains in one fell swoop.
It was a tone-deaf, self-serving performance that ignored the reality facing the country and being played out on the international stage: the likelihood that Iran is emerging from the war strengthened and with the funds to rehabilitate itself.
Despite Netanyahu assuring the country that Israel will not abandon the North and leave Hezbollah to return to the border in an October 6 scenario, the deal could put Israel in direct diplomatic conflict with the US the next time Hezbollah attacks.
Israel is certainly in a better position security-wise than it was on October 7. However, if Netanyahu wants to take credit for that, he also must accept the blame for the failures leading up to that dark day in Israel’s history.
Looking back on the last year of war with Iran, one may surmise that Israel and the US won the battles against the regime, delaying its nuclear plans and disrupting its relationships with its proxies. But it will only become clear who won the war when the details of the US-Iran deal are finally revealed in full.
Israel must prepare itself for the likelihood that the victor was Iran, and that it will have to face the consequences without the support of the US, Europe, or the Gulf states.
That’s where Netanyahu’s strategic alliance with Trump has led us, and that’s what Netanyahu should have talked about instead of making a campaign speech.