Iran deal spurs Israeli about-face on ‘greatest friend’ Trump - EUROPE SAYS
Like many Israelis, Nuriel Zarif, owner of a popular café in Jerusalem, once celebrated Donald Trump as Israel’s ultimate defender. He even regarded the American president as a national savior when the United. . .
Like many Israelis, Nuriel Zarif, owner of a popular café in Jerusalem, once celebrated Donald Trump as Israel’s ultimate defender. He even regarded the American president as a national savior when the United States and Israel went to war, ostensibly to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Mr. Zarif says he believed the U. S. fighting alongside Israel would lead to a vanquished Iran and an Israel that would finally know “peace and quiet. ”But now he voices alarm over a U. S. -Iran agreement that he fears gives Tehran the upper hand in the region. Why We Wrote ThisIsraeli attitudes toward U. S. President Donald Trump, once seen as the nation’s savior, have shifted dramatically. The initial U. S. -Iran ceasefire deal is already seen as a blow to Israel’s strategy and standing, and the backlash on the Israeli right has been harsh. “I, along with many Israeli citizens, are very hurt,” he says. “It’s as if they took us and threw us under the bus. ” He fears Mr. Trump’s turnabout has become so deep he’s willing to “sacrifice” the state of Israel itself. Such sentiments are a reversal in Israel, where Mr. Trump has been so popular that billboards have been emblazoned with his image, a new town has been named for him, and he recently received the country’s highest civilian award. When Mr. Trump visited Israel as the last of its hostages in Gaza were released by Hamas following a U. S. -brokered ceasefire, he was feted as a hero. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even declared him “the greatest friend that the State of Israel has ever had in the White House. ”“Abandonment” is now a word Israelis increasingly use to describe how they feel about their most important and powerful ally. Deep concerns about dealThe initial U. S. -Iran agreement, details of which are still being worked out, is already seen as a blow to Israeli strategy and standing. Israelis worry it leaves Iran’s ballistic missile program and proxy armies in place – including Hezbollah in Lebanon – and that it will not halt Iran’s nuclear program. It’s also unclear what it means for Israel’s ability to curb Hezbollah on its own. A separate, preliminary deal between Israel and Lebanon allows Israel to keep troops in southern Lebanon to protect its northern border from attack until Hezbollah is disarmed, something the militant Shiite group and its patron Iran reject. The backlash from right-wing supporters of Mr. Netanyahu, who used to rave about Mr. Trump’s previously hard-line stance on Iran and the Palestinians, is striking. Now, they are beginning to digest a new reality in which the once-vaunted “special relationship” between Israel and the U. S. has deteriorated dramatically. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who once called U. S. President Donald Trump Israel’s “greatest friend,” holds a news conference following the announcement of a U. S. -Iran ceasefire deal, in Jerusalem, June 15, 2026. “Trump emerged a loser,” Yinon Magal, the face of Channel 14, a cable outlet closely associated with Mr. Netanyahu,wroteon X, criticizing the memorandum of understanding with Iran when news of the agreement was announced. Mr. Netanyahu now finds himself caught between preserving his relationship with the White House and responding to growing frustration at home in a crucial election year. Mr. Zarif’s café, laden with cinnamon pastries and apple cakes, is a fixture in the Jerusalem neighborhood where Mr. Netanyahu grew up. His parents frequented it, Mr. Zarif says, and his younger son even once had a job there. Mr. Zarif, who has only ever voted for Mr. Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, says he’s so disappointed in the prime minister’s ability to deliver results for Israel, he’s not sure he will again. Shift in public sentimentYaniv Hananya, a right-wing voter and electrician from Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, says Mr. Trump once inspired extraordinary confidence among his friends, some of whom referred to him as “the Messiah. ”“Everyone around me had a lot of expectations of him and thought he would stand by us all the way,” he says. Instead, Mr. Trump “has stabbed us in the back. ”According to the Israel Democracy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank based in Jerusalem, just 41% of Jewish Israelis believe their nation’s security is a central consideration for Mr. Trump, the lowest number since he was elected in 2024. In a Channel 12 survey, 71%saidthey do not trust the U. S. president to safeguard Israel’s interests in negotiations with Iran. A new Hebrew University of Jerusalem survey found widespread Israeli disappointment with the outcome of the Iran war and the subsequent U. S. -Iran ceasefire, as well as deep skepticism toward official claims of success. More than 92% said they believed Iran emerged as the war’s winner, while nearly 83% said the campaign had weakened Israel’s long-term security. The frustration over the ceasefire agreement is testing the countries’ long-standing friendship. In a recent heated conversation, Mr. Trump reportedly accused Mr. Netanyahu of being “crazy” and lacking judgment by risking torpedoing the Iran deal with continued attacks in Lebanon. U. S. Vice President JD Vance, chief architect of the provisional deal, in turn took an extraordinarily harsh tone in a news conference that shocked Israelis. “If I was in the Cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world,” Mr. Vance said, referencing Israeli criticism of Mr. Trump. “Anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in. ”Ben-Dror Yemini, a columnist for Yedioth Ahronoth, one of Israel’s largest newspapers, bemoans what he says is American capitulation: “Instead of ‘Make America Great,’ we have gotten ‘Make Iran Great. ’ … What has happened now feels like a red line, a turning point, because it appears as a betrayal. ”U. S. Vice President JD Vance, with White House envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, from left, confer at talks between the United States and Iran, near near Lucerne, Switzerland, June 21, 2026. Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based think tank, notes that Israelis are understandably anxious about the U. S. -Iran memorandum of understanding, which is silent on Iranian missiles and notions of regime change, and allows Iran access to funds that could be used to strengthen its allies. She says the signals out of Washington “definitely suggest a U. S. posture less committed to keeping differences and ‘daylight’ with Israel under wraps,” she writes in an email. “At the same time, the swiftly-following U. S. -Israel-Lebanon agreement is perhaps a reminder of both parties’ deep working relationship, and a U. S. aiming to be responsive to its ally’s concerns, even if reconciling these two agreements will prove difficult at best. ”U. S. pocketbooks, Israeli securityDan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, a hawkish think tank, does not believe Mr. Trump has abandoned Israel, but has shifted focus to domestic concerns ahead of the U. S. midterm elections. “America votes through its pocketbook, and he is appealing to the American voters’ pocketbook right now,” he says. “Israel is paying a price for that. ”Dr. Diker argues that Israel’s plummeting popularity, including among Republicans, has made criticism of Israel politically easier. Still, he says Israel cannot allow foreign political considerations to sculpt its security decisions. “We’re endangering ourselves by not fighting the existential war that we face,” he says. “We need to fight that war and do whatever we have to do to survive. We’ll worry about [any rift] if that happens. Nobody can fight for their existence and worry about what any other person is going to say. ”Meanwhile in Metula, Israel’s northernmost town, an uneasy calm has settled in after months of fighting with Hezbollah. “Things are quieter, but we are more worried,” says Nir Zamir, a retired carpenter who returned to the area after being evacuated following the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, when Hezbollah joined the battle against Israel in solidarity with Hamas. He compares the ceasefire to a dangerous version of a childhood game. “Trump gave an order to hold fire and then everyone is standing in place, like in the game where they throw a ball at you and you’re not allowed to move. ”Mr. Zamir says Israelis were well aware of Mr. Trump’s unpredictability. “But as long as it was convenient for us, then we all loved him,” he says, especially when Mr. Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and secured the hostages’ release. Asher Greenberg, who grows apples, plums, and apricots in orchards overlooking the Lebanese border, also refrains from heavily criticizing the U. S. president. His Thai workers have returned after fleeing when the fighting began, though only about half of Metula’s residents have come back because of the shelling and anti-tank fire that continued until recently. Mr. Trump might be right to push for a deal with Iran, he says, as the cycle of violence could be endless. By giving both Israel and Iran a chance to reach an agreement, he suggests, Mr. Trump is “saving us from ourselves. ”