Israel Is An Independent Country. It Need Not Sign On To Or Abide By American Agreements
By
Leonard Zwelling
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/israel-isnt-a-party-to-the-iran-deal-50b846a9
The Wall Street Journal on June 23 published this op-ed by Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the Yisrael Beitenu party in Israel. He is vying to be the next Israeli prime minister after having been the defense, foreign, and finance minister in past governments.
His point is a simple one. Israel was not a party to the memorandum of understanding struck between the United States and Iran and has no obligation to follow any agreement reached in that deal. In essence, if Israel is more secure fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon now, it will continue to do so.
This is a critical moment in the history of the Middle East. Because of the war started by the United States and the Netanyahu government against Iran, Iran has learned how to extort the rest of the world by controlling shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and the United States has been put in its place in the world by learning it cannot bomb Iran into compliance with regard to obtaining its a nuclear weapon or being a theocratic dictatorship that oppresses its people and threatens its neighbors, Jew and Arab alike.
Many governments in the region have decisions to make.
The infrastructure of each of the oil-rich Gulf Sunni Arab nations was damaged in this war and their oil exports slowed. How will they each prevent this in the future? Will they join together to defeat the ayatollahs in Tehran or turn the other cheek as long as they are comfortable in their air-conditioned palaces? Will each cut a separate security deal with Iran in exchange for getting oil out through the Strait of Hormuz. It is hard to know.
Israel, by contrast, has let the world know exactly what it will do and that posture is captured in this editorial. Israel will do what’s good for Israel and the safety of its people regardless of what the U.S. signs. The Israeli political opposition to Netanyahu surely realizes that Bibi is responsible for the worst intelligence lapse in Israeli history (10/7) and now the worst military decision as well. Bibi has got to go, but what will the opposition run on to supplant his extremist, right-wing coalition?
Where in the U.S. it’s always “the economy, stupid,” in Israel it is always security. What makes Israel more secure is what will win in the fall. That will mean plans for Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank. Will the hegemony in the Israeli neighborhood practiced by Netanyahu win again or will some path to peaceful co-existence triumph? That will be up to the Israeli people, as it should be.
I do not have great insight into the workings of the Israeli political system or the current mindset of the voting public, many of whom are Arabs. I cannot help but believe that most Israelis are tired of war. They are tired of the adverse effects of combat on the economy, not to mention the human drain on the reservists and the IDF.
It may turn out, as Lieberman suggests, that a clear defeat of Hezbollah in Lebanon and of Hamas in Gaza must occur first. What Israel wishes to do with the many Arabs on the West Bank requires a logical plan which has, thus far, not been forthcoming. Two-state? One-state? No-state? Let the Israelis decide, but they must do so knowing that there are two million Arab Israeli citizens and many more Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza who live in land some Israelis believe is part of Israel according to the Bible. All of those Arabs would like a say in their futures as well.
Although I am a Jew and a Zionist and I love Israel, I do not live there. I am an American first, last, and always. I am anxious to see how the Israelis solve their current political struggle which clearly has existential elements to it should Iran acquire nuclear weapons. Who has got the best plan for the future among the many party leaders in Israel? I don’t know. I do know that Netanyahu is way past his “sell by” date.
I no longer care what Bibi thinks. His time is over. Now the Israeli people need to weigh in on their future. I am a very interested observer who does not get a vote. Let’s hope the Israelis choose in 2026 more wisely than we Americans did in 2024.
