Netanyahu fumes, allies rage over Trump's Iran deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was silent on Wednesday as President Trump released and signed a deal that Israeli officials see as a strategic and political disaster.

Why it matters:Netanyahu promised the Israeli public "total victory" in Iran. He had to settle for Trump's memorandum of understanding — and frequent criticism from the president, all four months before an election.

The big picture: Netanyahu stands alone internationally in his belief that the deal is a mistake and the war should have continued.

• Even the United Arab Emirates, which had been the most hawkish of the Gulf states, decided to join the regional consensus in favor of the deal.
• In Washington too, Netanyahu's allies in the GOP and in the media are reluctant to fully trash a deal that carries Trump's imprimatur.
• There will be no repeat of Netanyahu's address to Congress in 2015 to rally opposition to President Obama's Iran deal. Netanyahu can't even go on cable news and bluntly oppose the deal, unless he wants a fight with Trump.

Behind the scenes: Instead of public denunciations, Israeli officials have been expressing deep concern about the deal in background briefings with Israeli reporters.

• Meanwhile, Netanyahu-aligned media outlets — most of which had been emphatically pro-Trump — have started to attack Trump and his team.
• One prime-time host on Netanyahu-aligned Channel 14 called Vice President Vance a "scumbag" and used an antisemitic slur to accuse Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner of selling out Israel for financial gain.

The other side:At the G7 summit on Wednesday, Trump thanked Netanyahu for his cooperation during the war with Iran, while also taking swipes at the prime minister.

• "Bibi is a good man. He gets a little excited sometimes. But we have an amazing partnership. We are the big partner and he is the very small partner," Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.
• Days earlier, Trump told Axios that Netanyahu had "no fucking judgement" because he ordered out a strike in Beirut that nearly scuttled the deal.

Friction point: Netanyahu was caught by surprise when Trump announced the deal on Sunday, and Israeli officials claimed as recently as Tuesday that Israel still hadn't been allowed to review the MOU.

• A U.S. official acknowledged in a briefing with reporters on Wednesday that Netanyahu might not have seen the final text, but claimed the Israelis never asked for it and that the White House had given Netanyahu detailed briefings throughout the negotiations.
• During Wednesday's press conference, Trump said he'd sent over a copy.
• The U.S. official claimed that despite Netanyahu's skepticism, the PM had told Vance, Kushner and Witkoff that if Iran follows through on the nuclear concessions it told the U.S. it was willing to make, "that would be a home run deal."

Zoom in:The issue of greatest immediate concern for Netanyahu is Lebanon.

• The MOU says the ceasefire includes the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, and that Israel would have to withdraw from Lebanon under any final deal.
• A Netanyahu adviser said Israel doesn't consider itself bound by the Lebanon part of the MOU. The adviser noted that Netanyahu told Trump Israeli forces would not withdraw from southern Lebanon unless Hezbollah was disarmed.
• "We have a little dispute about Lebanon," Trump said on Wednesday.

What to watch:The White House says this won't be a "one-sided ceasefire" and Israel will have the ability to retaliate if Hezbollah attacks.

• U.S. officials also hope Israel will use the next 60 days to make progress in its negotiations with Lebanon on a political settlement, and that an Israeli withdrawal might result from those talks — rather than from a nuclear deal with Iran.
• Trump also criticized Israel's tactics in Lebanon again on Wednesday, saying it was unacceptable "to knock down an apartment house every time you're looking for somebody."

The bottom line:Even the presidents with whom Netanyahu often quarreled weren't so bluntly critical of Israel. It was another blow for Netanyahu to absorb from his indispensable ally.

(Author: Startup News)