Gantz and Barak accuse Netanyahu of strategic failure over emerging U.S.-Iran deal

Criticism of the government over the emerging agreement between the United States and Iran intensified as Benny Gantz and former prime minister Ehud Barak blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a diplomatic and strategic failure. Gantz, speaking to Radio 103FM, also addressed continued fire from Lebanon and claims about the ongoing Iran-Hezbollah connection, saying Israel had failed to turn its battlefield gains into political leverage.

Gantz said, "It is a failure that Iran and Lebanon are linked. Netanyahu, who speaks of being in a 'different league' with the Americans, should have worked on this, and he did not do it successfully." Asked whether Netanyahu had given in to U.S. pressure at the decisive moment, Gantz replied, "Yes. This is a failure by Netanyahu." He added that there is a sense of a strategic missed opportunity, saying Israel did not succeed in maximizing the military achievements, "not in Lebanon, not in Iran, and not in the connection between them." In his view, the emerging deal is stripping away many issues while promising very little, and Israel must prepare to deal with this reality in the coming years.

Barak, speaking to Kan Reshet Bet, was equally harsh. He said, "It is very bad. Israel is paying the price of Netanyahu's arrogance and blindness and the price of the manipulations he tried to do on Trump." Barak concluded that "Iran came out strengthened, Israel came out weakened, and that is Netanyahu's strategic responsibility. He failed."