‘It’s a big mistake’: Israelis feel betrayed and angry after Iran peace deal | Israel
IThere were a lot of things almost everyone at the Tree brasserie on Herzl Street in Rehovot agreed on. Few people disputed that the ceasefire agreement signed by Iran and the United States a few days ago was very bad for Israel. “We were betrayed by President Trump,” said Avi Perez, 55.
They also believed that Israel was more than ever beset by dangers that it would have to face alone. “Strange. We were there too one day. [bomb] our shelters with our children… Everything should be normal the next day. But nothing was resolved,” said Shaham Nowick, 35, as he examined the menu.
Rehovot, 12 miles from Tel Aviv, has long been held up by pollsters as an example of “central Israel”; if such a thing exists in such a diverse and divided country. Rows of Israeli and pride flags flew along main streets, loud music played on one street corner, Orthodox Jewish men gathered on another, and weekend traffic gathered around construction sites for a new bus system.
Some had come to the brasserie on Friday morning to take a break from the news, which was dominated by headlines about renewed fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces launched airstrikes, killing 18 and wounding 33, after Hezbollah, which has close ties to Iran, killed four Israeli soldiers, including a senior officer, in an attack on a tank.
Many Israelis believe that the deal the US negotiated with Iran is a betrayal. Commentators denounced the deal as a capitulation and a humiliation “even worse than Israel feared.”
There are widespread concerns not only that Iran will be able to rebuild stronger than before the conflict, but also that the deal imposed on Lebanon will restrict Israel’s ability to combat Hezbollah, which is seen as a major threat to its north.
“Israelis believe that the war in Lebanon is a just war,” said Udi Tenne, political strategic advisor and international campaign manager in Israel. “Everyone living in Israel understands that Iran and Hezbollah are one and the same.”
There was anger in the town of Metulla, a few meters north of Lebanon. “Everyone was very happy with the war” [against Iran] but the US deal is really not good for Israel… This is a big mistake,” said restaurateur Daniel Dorfmann.
Others spoke of Israel’s “terrible failure” to achieve its war goals of regime change, destroying Iran’s nuclear program and eliminating its ballistic missiles.
Worse still, Israel ended the conflict last week after launching the war “shoulder to shoulder” with the United States, marginalized by Washington and dismissed by Donald Trump as a “minor power”.
Instead of being invited to the White House to advise Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu received expletive-filled tirades and criticisms about the civilian casualties caused by Israel’s relentless assault on Lebanon, where more than 3,900 people have been killed.
Nadav Eyal, columnist for the Yedioth Ahronoth daily newspaper, wrote: “The words ‘shock’ and ‘grief’ fail to describe the feeling among certain sections of the Israeli establishment. There is a lot of salt being poured into their wounds right now.”
Netanyahu, 76 and on trial for corruption, now faces the tough challenge of convincing voters that only he can keep Israelis safe.
Public opinion expert Prof Tamar Hermann Israel Democracy InstituteHe said: “Netanyahu showed a kind of arrogance in defining his goals so clearly. When you cannot achieve these goals, it is thought that you will not be able to fulfill your promises.”
Rehovot, where Israel has very few Palestinian citizens, is also an important town for Jewish voters, who make up three-quarters of the electorate in Israel. National polls are now expected to be held in October. “The next election will be a big turning point,” a senior opposition party official said last week. “It’s hard to overstate how important this will be for the country.”
The failures that led to a Hamas offensive in October 2023 that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250 people have deeply shaken faith in Netanyahu even among his supporters. Israel’s relentless and bloody war in Gaza, which killed more than 73,000 people, most of them civilians, brought about international isolation. Israel now controls 70 percent of Gaza, but Hamas still rules most of the population of 2.3 million. It turned out that the successive attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon were fruitless.
Despite the reactions, there are those who remain loyal to Netanyahu. When undecided voters were asked last week who would best stand against Iran, 43 percent said the Netanyahu-led coalition.
Perez, an engineer who works at the pub, said: “Netanyahu is a human being, so he makes some mistakes, but he knows how to fix things. He knows what Israel needs. He speaks for his country. Trump speaks for his businesses.”
Such sentiments mean that there may be close struggles in the upcoming elections. Analysts say Netanyahu, a veteran of such struggles, can still outshine all his rivals. Hermann said: “I think he’s in trouble, but I’m not sure what he’s got up his sleeve. He’s a political Houdini.”
Lee Novick, 34, a doctor in Rehovot, said Israelis are more divided than ever on many issues. “Netanyahu is trying to divide us and it’s working. This has been going on for years. And meanwhile no one cares about the basics, like house prices or inflation,” he said.
“I believe Iran, which says it wants to destroy Israel. Why shouldn’t I? But this government is exploiting the war.” [to get] “We implement separatist laws to stay in power.”
Officials in opposition political parties also said Israeli Jews were more divided than ever. “Israelis talk behind each other’s backs. There is no common ground,” one of them said.
But Harmann disagrees, noting that there have been other moments of extreme polarization in recent years, such as the 1990s. Instead, he said, most Jewish voters share more than divides them: a belief in an economically liberal model but a strong welfare state financed by progressive taxation, a hard line on security, the existence of Israel as a Jewish state, and a belief that any two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians is unrealistic.
More importantly, many support the war in Lebanon and strongly oppose laws granting Israel’s Orthodox communities exemptions from conscription.
“All the talk about polarization is probably kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Harmann said.
Dahlia Perez, 55, who lives in Rehovot, said last week’s events taught her that “peace will never come.”
“I was hoping the wars would end, but I guess we’ll always have to live by our swords,” he said. “We realize that we have no friends anymore and we can’t trust anyone.”
