A Show of Weakness by the United States
The article argues that the real problem is not Israel, but the United States, which has exposed what the writer sees as striking weakness. It says President Donald Trump moved quickly from launching a high-profile confrontation with Iran to pushing an agreement that many in Israel view as a strategic defeat, both for Israel and for Washington. The writer says the deal, expected to be signed on Friday if nothing changes, also undercuts the hopes of those who wanted a new Middle East and harms moderate Sunni states that see Iran as a long-term threat.
The piece says Trump’s approach was visible earlier in his dealings with the Houthis, when he reached an understanding without Israel’s knowledge and left Israel facing a maritime siege and continued missile and drone fire. It also criticizes Trump for advancing a 20-point plan without consulting Israel and for later backing a ceasefire with Hamas, which the article says may have been the right move for Israel at that moment, but was against the wishes of the Israeli government and especially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
After the joint strike on Iran, the article says there was briefly a sense that Trump understood Iran was a real danger to American interests as well, not just to Israel, because of Tehran’s pressure on Gulf states and its support for Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis. But, the writer claims, Trump preferred lower fuel prices over long-term American interests, echoing campaign promises about strength while abandoning them in practice. The article adds that Iran’s resistance now appears to be rewarded, rather than punished.
The text says the Hamas ceasefire and hostage-release deal was also enabled by Turkish and Qatari intervention, which upgraded those two countries strategically. It says Saudi Arabia responded by turning away from normalization with Israel and toward a Pakistani-Turkish axis. The writer places part of the blame on Netanyahu too, arguing that for months after the October 7 war began, Saudi Arabia was still open to normalization, but Netanyahu refused to offer even symbolic concessions on the Palestinian issue, choosing instead to prioritize his coalition partners Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich over a broader regional alignment.
