The widening rift between the United States and Israel reached new heights this week, with an article published in a major Israeli publication accusing President Donald Trump of abandoning Israel to its number one enemy after reaching an interim agreement with Iran.
Analysts described what they described as public political anger over the terms of the deal, which detailed the rough terms for ending the joint US and Israeli war against Iran, dominating headlines and creating a sense of betrayal.
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In one particularly violent attack, an editorial titled “You Could Have Been the Greatest President of All, But You Failed” accused Trump of signing a “capitulation agreement with a brutal and brutal regime of terror.”
The article, published in Israel Hayom, one of the country’s leading newspapers owned by influential Trump megadonor Miriam Adelson, didn’t pack much punch.
The document, styled as a letter to Trump, went further than some radical Israeli politicians in criticizing the deal, accusing the US president of upsetting the hourglass to a new war and bringing “humiliation” to the homeland.
“Former President Barack Obama’s wide grin included plenty of ridicule for him, who called the deal the worst in history,” the paper said, referring to the 2015 nuclear deal that Trump withdrew from three years later during his first term.
Hagai Ram, a professor at Ben-Gurion University and author of the book “Iranophobia: The Logic of Israel’s Obsession,” said that until recently, Trump was “the most popular person in Israel,” but now he has been made into a “villain.”
He added that the reaction to the deal, which mainstream media hailed as an “Iranian trap,” was due to “phobia” and “a sense of total betrayal of Israel by America.”
A broken marriage?
The alliance between the United States and Israel is generally considered one of the closest in modern world history.
Since playing a key role in statehood in 1948, the United States has supported Israel through multiple conflicts, particularly in its decades-long blockade and attacks on the Gaza Strip, and its frequent disregard for international law in its treatment of Palestinians.
But while there have been squabbles in the past, nothing seems to rival this week’s current dispute over the terms of the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Even though observers quickly noticed that the long-standing strategic alliance remained firmly intact.
For many Israelis, Iran is their country’s regional nemesis, and war with Iran is often portrayed as existential at best. Israeli politicians, including current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have argued for decades that Iran is on the brink of acquiring nuclear weapons and continues to seek Israel’s destruction with its allies, including the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
But under the terms of the agreement, which was negotiated without Israel’s explicit involvement, all fighting, including the offensive launched against Lebanon in early March, was to end immediately. Additionally, both sides pledge to respect the “territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon” mentioned in the memorandum, of which Israel currently occupies about one-fifth.
This didn’t work in Israel.
A poll conducted by Israel’s Channel 12 television on Thursday appears to have ended years of widespread public support for the United States, and for Trump in particular.
According to the survey, only 11% of Israelis feel their country has “won” the war that the United States and Israel began against Iran in late February, and an overwhelming 71% said they no longer trust the Trump administration to protect Israel’s interests in negotiations with Iran established under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding.
Anxiety about America’s purpose is not limited to its citizens. Prime Minister Netanyahu has not yet commented publicly on the memorandum’s terms, but Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon and Hezbollah’s claims that it has violated the memorandum’s terms provide ample indication to observers that he does not consider himself bound by the memorandum.
Other cabinet ministers were more direct, with far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir publicly condemning the interim agreement.
“With all due respect to the American people, Israel must make it clear to the whole world that the blood of our sons and the security of our people will not be lost. We must burn all of Lebanon,” Ben Gvir said in the X post, which was later restricted for violating the platform’s terms of service.
“Truth Bomb”
U.S. officials are furious at the characterization of the negotiations in Israeli politics and media. At the G7 on Wednesday, President Trump told reporters that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “a little excited” about attacking Lebanon.
US Vice President J.D. Vance has doubled down on his attacks on critics of Israel. Asked Thursday about reports that Netanyahu was furious over the memorandum, Vance said Trump was “the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the state of Israel at this time,” referring to the global condemnation of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza and attacks on neighboring countries.
“If I had been in the cabinet of the Israeli government, we might not have attacked our only remaining strong ally in the entire world,” he added.
Political analyst Oli Goldberg described the situation as a “rift” rather than an argument.
“American leaders criticize Israel not because they suddenly have some great insight, but because the facts have become inescapable.” “Everything they’re saying is right. These are truth bombs. Israel actually drew them into the war and Netanyahu manipulated Trump.”
The situation seems to be getting more and more serious. On Saturday, Israel’s continued attack on Lebanon prompted Iran to once again close its economic gateway, the Strait of Hormuz. Closing the Strait of Hormuz is where many believed brought Trump to the negotiating table.
“There are two things going on here, and each one is a mirror of the other,” said Aron Pincus, a former Israeli ambassador and consul general in New York.
“Meanwhile, all Trump admirers are desperately looking for someone outside to take responsibility for luring their great leader into such an intractable war and taking over Prime Minister Netanyahu.
“On the other hand, you have all the Netanyahu supporters. They are also facing a Lebanon war they can’t get out of, and the US deal they are repeatedly told is a much stronger Iran than the Iran that agreed to a better deal under the Obama administration,” Pincus added.
“This is a bad agreement because, after all, it was a bad war,” he continued. “One always follows the other.”
