The United States is not going to let Israel fall. This has been the case since the founding of the state in 1948. However, in these Trumpist, visceral and impatient times, Washington does not avoid criticism that at another time would have remained private. But never in history have the two allies been at war with Iran and have had disagreements about where to stop, when to sign peace.
We have been hearing calls from the American president, Donald Trump, to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for weeks, in which insults fly. The Republican has also publicly censured Bibiwhich he has demanded to stop attacking Lebanon in order to close a comprehensive pact with Tehran.
A meeting was to be held today in Switzerland to begin developing the framework agreement signed yesterday, but there will be no meeting: the US alleges logistical problems but the ayatollahs put their finger on the problem and say they are not going because Lebanon is still under bombs. In this context it is better understood that the North American vice president, JD Vance, has attacked Israel again in the last few hours, with great harshness, because he does not listen to the United States. Trump, remember, is Tel Aviv’s only ally, a harsh criticism that made reference to the billions of dollars in US military aid that the country receives.
The number two thus defended the agreement reached this week, harshly criticized both in more sectors falcons of the US and Israel for not stopping the Iranian missile program and not offering a clear path to dismantle its nuclear facilities, in addition to limiting Israel’s capacity in its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Vance, asked at a White House news conference about a report that Netanyahu was furious about the deal, said he had not heard such comments from Israel’s prime minister but criticized members of the Israeli leader’s cabinet, who he says have attacked the deal and personally attacked Trump. “My message to them would be twofold. First: Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who sympathizes with the nation of Israel at this moment,” he declared to the press.
“Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who sympathizes with the nation of Israel at this time”
“If I were part of the Israeli government cabinet, I probably wouldn’t be attacking the only powerful ally I have left in the world,” he added. The “unique” thing hits where it hurts, because Israel’s international isolation is one of Netanyahu’s achievements in recent years, starting with the genocide applied in Gaza (Palestine).
Vance added that he would also remind those Cabinet members that two-thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected Israel “have been made by Americans and financed by American taxes.” The Pentagon provides Israel with about $4 billion in military assistance annually, but the two countries are negotiating a new aid deal.
“Israel’s problem is not Donald J. Trump, and anyone in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and realize the reality of the situation the country is in,” Vance declared.
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Senior Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to Reuters, said the terms of the deal were detrimental to Israel because they did not address concerns about Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program, a view they say is shared by the Israeli leadership.
Trump attempted to downplay Israel’s concerns during his closing speech Wednesday at the G7 summit in France. Netanyahu could take a more conciliatory stance in the fight against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, the tycoon said.
In his first statements after the agreement, Netanyahu stated at a public event that Israel valued its relationship with the United States, but that it would continue to occupy southern Lebanon to ensure the safety of citizens living near Israel’s northern border. “This requires maintaining the security strip in southern Lebanon; it requires that we not withdraw from there as long as Israel’s security needs require it,” Netanyahu declared.
Israel on Thursday published a map showing an expanded military control zone in southern Lebanon and said it did not rule out carrying out attacks beyond it, defying the terms of the US-Iran deal.
Against Ben-Gvir
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a key figure in Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, has been one of the leaders who has harshest criticized the agreement between the US and Iran and insisted that Israeli troops will remain in Lebanon, because his country makes its own decisions and makes its own security bets.
Vance criticized Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for this position in an interview with The New York Times also published yesterday Thursday. A barrage that partially saves Netanyahu, but hits the ministers of nationalist and religious parties who are the basis of his governability majority.
“What is your exact proposal? They are a country of nine million people. They cannot simply solve all their national security problems through violence,” Vance said against the ultra ministers. “All this panic in Israel seems a little strange to me, because I think it arises from mistrust, and I think the US has earned the trust of that region of the world,” he added.
Ben-Gvir responded to Vance’s statements in
“This is the proposal… To deal with the Nazis of the 21st century, just as the US dealt with the Nazis of the 20th century”
Itamar Ben-Gvir
Trump, in a social media post following Vance’s remarks Thursday, said he encouraged everyone in the Middle East to remain committed to allowing negotiations to take place. “We hope for a complete ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah and Israel,” the president wrote.
For now, this morning the president of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, stated this Thursday that the Shiite militia party will maintain its “commitment to the ceasefire, as long as Israel fully and completely respects it.”
