Israel finds itself engaged in two semi-frozen conflicts in Lebanon and Iran. But the outcome of these battles will likely be determined not by Israel\u2019s own political leaders, but by the United States and President Donald Trump, Israeli analysts have told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n
With US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner headed to Pakistan for another round of talks with Iran, Israel is not included. And Trump announced on Thursday a three-week extension to the ceasefire in Lebanon. Israel has, of course, repeatedly violated that ceasefire \u2013 but analysts highlight that Trump continues to have more influence over events than his partners in Israel.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n That is despite Israel\u2019s leaders \u2013 and in particular Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu \u2013 repeatedly calling Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah existential threats. Netanyahu had for years called for the kind of war he eventually unleashed on Iran with the US at the end of February.<\/p>\n But the conclusion of that war now appears out of his control. And that, according to observers, is of growing concern to the Israeli public, who were promised by Netanyahu an \u201cend to the threat from the Ayatollah regime in Iran\u201d, and the ultimate \u201cdisarmament\u201d of Hezbollah.<\/p>\n \u201cNetanyahu\u2019s attempt to steer Washington on both Iran and Lebanon was both hubristic and opportunistic, but it should also not be that surprising that Netanyahu would attempt this,\u201d former Israeli government adviser Daniel Levy said, comparing that backing to the unquestioning support the US had offered the Israeli government during its genocidal war on Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cPartly this is Netanyahu beginning to believe his own hype in terms of not only what Israel can achieve vis-a-vis Washington, but also what Israel and the US combined can achieve in terms of reshaping the region, which hasn\u2019t happened,\u201d Levy, who is now a prominent critic of Israel, said. \u201cBut it\u2019s also Netanyahu seeing an opportunity with this administration, which is so hollowed out in terms of inter-agency process that he can push the US to do things that Israel \u2026 couldn\u2019t get it to do before.\u201d<\/p>\n With both Hezbollah and Iran damaged but still standing, Trump\u2019s announcement of twin ceasefires in Iran and Lebanon has exposed the principal cheerleader of both conflicts, Netanyahu, to domestic political jeopardy.<\/p>\n Just days before Trump\u2019s Lebanon ceasefire announcement, a poll by the Israel Democracy Institute showed overwhelming support among Jewish Israeli respondents for continuing the conflict even if that led to friction with the US.<\/p>\n The ceasefire with Iran has also proven unpopular within Israel, with two-thirds of Israelis polled by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem opposing the pause in operations.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that, on the one hand, Israelis, Israeli Jews in particular, tend to put both of them [Iran and Lebanon] into the broader basket of \u2018all enemies are against us,\u2019\u201d Dahlia Scheindlin, an American Israeli political consultant, pollster, and journalist told Al Jazeera, \u201cWe live in a region with a sea of enemies trying to destroy Israel in every possible way. So it becomes part of a wider self-image that Israelis have.\u201d<\/p>\n Public confidence that the Israeli government was able to call the shots was low, she said, with uncertainty over a future determined by an erratic US president.<\/p>\n \u201cAmerica is the far stronger partner,\u201d Scheindlin said. \u201cSo there is an understanding that Washington ultimately shapes the course of events. Israel has influence and a voice, but not the final say. That sense is becoming an increasingly common theme at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n After Trump initially announced the ceasefire in Lebanon, former Israeli chief of staff and chair of the centrist Yashar party Gadi Eisenkot said it was a continuation of ceasefires being \u201cimposed\u201d on Israel over the past two and a half years.<\/p>\n While critics would note that the US has done little to restrain Israel and often actively supported its attacks, Eisenkot was more focused on what he called Netanyahu\u2019s inability \u201cto convert military achievements into diplomatic gains\u201d.<\/p>\n Opposition leader Yair Lapid was equally critical, writing on social media: \u201cNot for the first time, all the promises of this government are crashing against the ground of reality.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs things stand at present, the [Iranian] regime is still standing, the uranium remains in the country, the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] is in a stronger position than before, and Trump wants out,\u201d Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador and consul general in New York, said of the predicament facing Netanyahu. \u201cThat marks a strategic defeat for Israel, whatever military achievements it may have made.<\/p>\n \u201cI really don\u2019t know if Trump cares what happens to Netanyahu,\u201d Pinkas added, noting that, after reporting suggesting Netanyahu had manipulated Trump into the war, a visible rupture between the two might even be politically helpful for the US president. \u201cHe [Trump] wants a deal with Iran and, if Israel is the loser in that, I think Trump can live with it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Israel finds itself engaged in two semi-frozen conflicts in Lebanon and Iran. But the outcome of these battles will likely be determined not by Israel\u2019s own political leaders, but by the United States and President Donald Trump, Israeli analysts have told Al Jazeera. With US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner headed to Pakistan for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
Israelis still want war<\/h2>\n
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Netanyahu\u2019s critics<\/h2>\n
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