U.S. Lebanon Move Gives Iran and Qatar a Role, Drawing Israeli Alarm

A Hebrew opinion article argues that the United States has made a dangerous mistake by giving Iran and Qatar standing in a new Lebanon coordination mechanism. The writer says the plan, agreed in Switzerland, is officially meant to support “coordination and conflict prevention” in Lebanon, but in practice it makes the two countries partners in solving a crisis they helped create.

The piece says the Trump administration, with Vice President Vance pushing a more restrained U.S. approach, is shifting away from isolating Iran and toward integrating it into regional arrangements. It describes that as appeasement, comparing the logic to 1938 Europe, when leaders tried to buy stability by conceding to aggressive powers. The author stresses that Iran is not like Nazi Germany, but says the pattern is similar: a radical actor is being turned into a guardian of order.

The article argues that Israel should have responded forcefully if, as its leaders have long said, Iran is its main existential threat. Instead, it criticizes Jerusalem for silence, asking why there has been no major diplomatic campaign, no emergency trips to Congress, no mobilization of pro-Israel allies in the United States, and no clear public protest from the political leadership.

The warning is that if the Lebanon model is normalized, similar arrangements could follow in Gaza and the West Bank under the banner of stability. The author says Israel cannot become “the Czechoslovakia of the 21st century” or “the Hungary abandoned in 1956,” and concludes that the country must tell Washington, “not at our expense.”