In announcing he was calling off strikes on Iran, US President Donald Trump said “Israel joins me in this commitment.”
But Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is yet to comment — and that’s probably not surprising.
Netanyahu was in the Oval Office as recently as Tuesday and might have hoped he had convinced the fickle US president of Israel’s arguments on both Iran and Gaza. But the start of the working week in Israel finds its leader grappling with setbacks in both areas.
Netanyahu is desperate for the US to resume its military campaign against Iran in earnest.
Convincing Washington to launch a major war was a triumph for the Israeli leader. But from Netanyahu’s perspective, and that of much of the Israeli public, it ended prematurely.
Israel is less concerned about energy prices and the freedom of shipping companies to move oil out of the Persian Gulf. In Israel, it’s Iran’s nuclear program and the regime behind it that matters.
They both look secure, and that makes Netanyahu vulnerable as the country moves to a general election in under three months’ time.
On Gaza, Netanyahu’s office was already signalling concerns ahead of Trump’s declaration Thursday evening that Hamas had agreed to disarm, in what the US leader called a “monumental step towards lasting peace and security.”
Israel believes Washington is too quick to want a win and too ready to reach accommodations with Hamas to that end. Netanyahu wants no restrictions on Israel’s freedom to do what it wants in Gaza, and here, too, Israeli public opinion is largely behind him.
Netanyahu will be keen to delay, or indeed scuttle if he can, any US-led efforts to halt strikes on Gaza or make any significant withdrawals, even if any pullbacks are to positions still well inside the enclave.
