Amos Harel, a military analyst in the Israeli newspaper “Haaretz,” considered that the American-Iranian understanding constitutes a political and strategic blow to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing the crystallized results of the war as representing the “second catastrophic failure” in his political career after the events of October 7, 2023.
In an analysis published by the newspaper, Harel saw that Netanyahu faces heavy repercussions on more than one front, after the war on Gaza failed to achieve what he previously described as “absolute victory,” while the results of the confrontation with Iran seem far from the goals sought by the Israeli government.
He pointed out that the war against Hamas did not lead to the complete dismantling of the movement as Netanyahu promised, considering that the current scene reflects a wide gap between the declared goals and the actual results on the ground.
He added that the current understanding between Washington and Tehran does not carry positive indicators from the Israeli point of view, but rather imposes a new reality that was not among the calculations that Netanyahu promoted during the past months.
Harel pointed out that US President Donald Trump is currently focused on ending the war and removing American forces from the region, which explains Washington’s rush to reach an understanding with Iran, even if it does not achieve all of Israel’s demands.
He considered that the proposed agreement would only achieve a very limited part of the expectations on which Israel built its strategy during the last stage, which places Netanyahu facing increasing political and security challenges.
In a reading of the upcoming developments, the Israeli analyst warned that the existing differences between Trump and Netanyahu may not remain limited to the Iranian file, but may extend to other regional files, most notably Lebanon.
He pointed out that there are increasing indications of a widening gap in positions between Washington and Tel Aviv regarding the Lebanese arena, in light of talk about including Lebanon within the broader understandings related to ending the war in the region.
These positions coincide with the escalation of criticism within Israel of the American-Iranian understanding, as Israeli media spoke during the past hours of a state of widespread disappointment within the political and security circles, and of a growing crisis with the American administration.
Israeli reports also quoted officials in Tel Aviv as believing that Washington made concessions regarding Lebanon during negotiations with Tehran, which raised fears of the repercussions of the agreement on Israeli freedom of movement in the region.
This controversy reflects the extent of anxiety within Israel regarding the post-agreement phase, especially with the US-Iranian negotiations moving into the implementation and technical details phase, and the new understandings that may accompany them that redraw regional balances.
As the date for the official signing of the agreement approaches, it seems that the discussion within Israel is no longer limited to Iran only, but also includes the future of the relationship with Washington and Lebanon’s position in the new equations that are forming in the region.
