“I do not need Bibi to tell me what is happening in Iran. Bibi’s telling me that because he wants me to stay involved,” U.S. President Donald Trump said only hours before his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began.
But there is a problem. That was precisely why Netanyahu came to the White House: to provide Trump with intelligence he may not possess.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with US President Donald Trump at the White House
(Photo: Maayan Toaf/ GPO)
Trump, however, does not appear interested in hearing it.
The leaks themselves, detailing the intelligence Netanyahu intended to present to Trump, were the last thing Israel needed. They reinforce the impression that Netanyahu is trying to push the president into continuing the war.
Netanyahu has already been accused of persuading Trump to enter the fighting during their previous meeting on February 11. Countless opinion pieces and cartoons portrayed the Israeli prime minister as the man controlling the American president.
That description was not accurate. Trump had already announced his intention to come to the aid of the Iranian people following the protests in January. Netanyahu’s role at the time was primarily to coordinate, not to persuade.
Yet the bleak results of the campaign have created a need to find someone to blame. Netanyahu has shifted from being a partner to being cast as the culprit.
Trump’s remarks to Fox News shortly before the latest meeting continued that same line. It is unfair. There are many justified criticisms that can be directed at Netanyahu, but this is not one of them.
Still, rather than lowering the flames directed at Israel, the leaks from Netanyahu’s office only strengthened the claims against it. Something has been wrong for a long time with the Prime Minister’s Office’s strategic conduct. The latest episode offered further proof.
Netanyahu’s objective, strangely enough, was to persuade Trump to carry out the goals the president himself had set to justify the war: removing Iran’s uranium, eliminating its nuclear program, restricting missile production and ending support for its terrorist proxies.
Not one of those objectives has been achieved.
Instead, a new problem has emerged: Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz.
Remarkably, the negotiations now underway between Oman and Iran focus almost entirely on passage arrangements through Hormuz. Every American concession appears to harden Iran’s position further.
Only hours after the humiliating new formula of “quiet for quiet” was announced, an Iranian television channel aired an instructional segment on how to murder first lady Melania Trump.
Appeasement toward Iran would mean Iranian domination in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and among Palestinian terrorist organizations.
That control would be exercised through money and weapons. Its result would be a Middle East increasingly dominated by a terrorist state.
This is not merely Israel’s problem. It is a problem for the United States and every country in the region.
It is doubtful Trump understands that the entire Middle East, not only Israel, is at stake.
When it comes to words, Trump is indeed a superhero.
He can break, smash and destroy. He claims American cameras allow him to see exactly what is happening at Pickaxe Mountain. He says that, if he chooses, he can demolish bridges and power stations within hours, bringing Iran to its knees and forcing it to accept every American demand.
Is this man for real?
After weeks of bombing in the first round and another 12 days of strikes in the latest one, Iran is still standing, while the United States is pleading for some kind of achievement.
Trump’s mouth, however, continues to produce enormous victories and spectacular successes.
Israel must therefore admit that it has a problem.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the predictable brief statement described it as successful. One can only hope that is true.
Ben-Dror YeminiPhoto: Avigail UziBut words have lost their meaning in the Trump era, and no one expected any other kind of announcement. Nor was it possible to read the participants’ body language when the meeting ended, because cameras were not allowed inside.
Trump has done remarkable things for Israel, from moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights to cooperating in the war against Iran.
But something has gone wrong.
Trump has replaced action with words.
It is possible, perhaps even likely, that “coordination was achieved,” as sources close to Netanyahu leaked following the meeting.
The coming days and weeks will reveal whether anything has actually changed.