Netanyahu Defies Trump as Iran, Lebanon Drive Wedge

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s open defiance in striking Iran against President Trump’s demands for a ceasefire adds to growing divisions between the U.S. and Israel over the way forward on the war in the Middle East.

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The tensions between Trump and Netanyahu reflect the divergent interests between the U.S. and Israel, said Eric Edelman, a former senior Pentagon and State Department official in both the Bush and Clinton administrations.

Edelman, distinguished scholar with the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, pointed to Trump telegraphing that he won’t go back to war with Iran unless an American is killed, as a signal of the president’s aversion to resuming conflict. 

“Which unfortunately is a permission slip to kill other people in the region, notably Israelis, but not just Israelis,” he said in a JINSA panel discussion on Monday.

Yaakov Amidror, a retired IDF major general and former national security adviser to Netanyahu, said that while the U.S. and Israel have expressed agreement on some of the pillars of any nuclear deal — disposal of Iran’s highly-enriched uranium and blocking Iran’s enrichment capabilities — the Israelis are more cautious over any terms of a final deal. 

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Trump pulled out of the JCPOA in 2018 and has called it a “horrible deal.” Opponents of the Obama-era nuclear deal – who cheered Trump’s withdrawal – are warning against Trump signing a JCPOA 2.0.

“I hope we’re not facing the same problem with this administration,” Amidror, a distinguished fellow with JINSA, said on the panel. He cited his own experience working with the Obama administration as backing off promises to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program to a “postpone and monitor.” 

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Read the original article in The Hill.