Israelis are shocked. President Donald Trump, of all people, has completely reversed course on Iran.
Conversations in the street, on social media and in the WhatsApp groups that dominate Israeli public life are filled with disbelief and anger. Until recently, Trump was one of the most beloved figures in the Holy Land. Now, many Israelis see him almost as a traitor. The emotions are that intense.
Only a few weeks ago, US refueling planes were flying alongside Israeli F-35s as part of the effort to break Iran's evil regime. Now, while those aircraft are still parked at Ben-Gurion Airport, the same America appears to be helping the mullahs, who have tried to destroy Israel, back onto their feet. Israelis do not get this U-turn.
Trump's capitulation to Iran has left Israel and Israelis deeply distressed. The world is now embracing a state whose ideology calls for "wiping the Zionist entity off the face of the earth." Those words have been backed by actions. It was only by chance that Iran did not achieve that goal on Oct. 7, 2023. And yet Vice President JD Vance did not even demand that his new friends in Tehran stop using the slogans "Great Satan" and "Little Satan." Has he forgotten the basics? What is going on here?
This appeasement of a regime that only recently massacred its own people, and that executes them on a daily basis, is incomprehensible. Israelis are being asked to whitewash Iran, just as the international community has legitimized Communist Party rule in China, Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime and other brutal governments. That demand shocks them.
One reason is that it comes from the same America that has described Iran as the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. This is a state that sends death squads around the world, builds terrorist armies, attacks its neighbors when they refuse to obey, tried to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington and nearly assassinated the US president. That makes it particularly scandalous that the same president whose life was saved, who understood and accurately explained the danger posed by Iran, and who went to a justified war against it, is now turning his back on the Israelis who admired him until just days ago. That is another reason for what Vance rightly described as "panic" in Israel.
Since being severely battered two and a half years ago, Israel has demonstrated a spectacular military performance. The IDF has largely succeeded in dismantling the axis of evil built by Iran. It did so with moral, military and political support from the United States under both President Joe Biden and President Trump. But under this week's new memorandum of understanding, Israel finds itself politically isolated. No other country is opposing the agreement between Trump and the Khamenei regime.
This is happening while Israel's image and diplomatic standing have been badly weakened by the long war against the enemies surrounding it. The disgraceful arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu restricts his movements around the world. Israel lost much of its support in the Democratic Party long ago. Now Israel's most important Republican backer, Donald Trump, is acting directly against its most fundamental interests. Is that not reason enough to be alarmed?
Not only is Trump embracing Israel's enemy, but he is also demanding that the country that fought alongside him not respond if missiles are fired into its territory, and show restraint when children walking to school are targeted by rockets. To say the least, this approach is unacceptable.
Moreover, the Republican leadership, which at its core supports the Jewish state, is now distancing itself. Even Sen. Lindsey Graham, Netanyahu's ally and the most aggressive Iran hawk in the Senate, has changed his position and now supports the agreement. Israelis are struggling to absorb that as well.
The sense that Israel is losing America is compounded by the European Union's approach, which has been alienating and discriminatory toward Israel for decades. Were it not for pockets of support from countries such as the Czech Republic, Serbia, Slovenia under its new government and Hungary under its previous leadership, Brussels would have imposed severe sanctions on Jerusalem long ago.
Then there is the Arab world's attitude toward Israel. The Abraham Accords did create a historic breakthrough. But even the United Arab Emirates, the Gulf country most critical of Iran during the war, supports the new agreement. As for the "peace" with Egypt, it has long been hollow. Cairo buys large quantities of gas from Israel, but its president refuses to meet with Israeli leaders. Egypt's huge, modern army consistently violates the security arrangements established in 1979.
Israel has also not forgotten that during the most difficult weeks of the winter of 2024, Cairo refused to accept Gazan war refugees. That stubborn rejection, which continued into the Trump era, thwarted the destruction of Hamas, which Egypt itself sees as an adversary. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi was apparently more interested in weakening Israel than in solving the Gaza challenge.
In recent weeks, Egypt's navy and air force have conducted joint exercises with Turkey, despite the deep historic rivalry between the two countries. Many in Israel fear that what now connects Cairo and Ankara is hostility toward Israel. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan regularly threatens Israel in extreme language. According to local media reports, Turkish security services have defined Israel as "enemy number one."
All this is happening while the arms of Iran's murderous octopus have not yet been severed. Hamas is still alive and reorganizing militarily in Gaza. Hezbollah is targeting IDF soldiers in Lebanon, and sometimes Israeli towns as well. Instead of going all the way and cutting off the head of the snake, Donald Trump, of all people, is choosing to feed the monster with dollars. From an Israeli perspective, there is no way to understand this policy.
This chain of developments puts Israel close to where it was during its first 19 years: a tiny country surrounded by enemies, with minimal international support. In theory, there is agreement that a Jewish state should exist and that it has the right to defend itself. In practice, shortly after Israel exercises that right, international credit quickly runs out. Israel is left alone.
By comparison, more than four years after Russia invaded Ukraine, Kyiv still rightly enjoys Western support. When it comes to Israel, it took about four months after a massacre of Jews unprecedented since the Holocaust for the world to demand that Israel stop the wheels of war.
Of course, Israel's leadership has made mistakes, as happens in every war. But Israel's ability to turn the tables and pursue its enemies, combined with a massive political campaign by opponents of the Jewish people, created the false image of Israel as a warmongering country. The truth is the opposite. Israelis were brutally attacked. Their enemies have not surrendered and still seek their destruction. That is the only reason the war continues.
The feeling that so few people understand the Israeli perspective rekindles a sense of siege across the political spectrum. It will not break Israelis. But it could certainly create a rift between the two allies that, only three months ago, were fighting together against a common enemy.
