[Salon] Trump Is Foiling Netanyahu's Tricks, Leaving Israel Floundering on Iran – and Its Own Economy

[Chas Freeman <cwfresidence@gmail.com>]

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-04-09/ty-article/.premium/trump-is-foiling-netanyahus-tricks-leaving-israel-exposed-on-iran-and-its-own-economy/00000196-19c9-d78d-a1de-1dd9f2190000

Trump Is Foiling Netanyahu's Tricks, Leaving Israel Floundering on Iran – and Its Own Economy - 

Chaim Levinson Apr 9, 2025

Two months ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned one of his senior coalition partners. When Netanyahu needs something, there are few tools he wields more effectively than a dramatic security disclosure.

In this case, he discreetly informed his interlocutor that Israel was about to launch a strike on Iran – a secret shared in the strictest confidence. I wouldn't have published this were it not for Netanyahu's confidant, Jacob Bardugo, who told the story himself.

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In the meeting, the prime minister walked his guest through the chilling operational details and explained the urgency. He gave a geopolitical rundown of the weather and the United States, and in the end, whispered the ultimate secret in his guest's ear – the date of the supposed attack.

Coincidentally – or perhaps not – the attack was set to happen just after Israel's state budget was due to be approved. The coalition partner, unaware that he was being played, left the meeting visibly shaken, declared the moment one of historic gravity, and threw his full weight behind passing the budget. As expected, it passed.

Later, Netanyahu said the strike had been delayed. Then Donald Trump entered the picture. Another supposed Israeli strike, again "planned," was – regrettably – postponed, this time live on television.

Trump's approach to diplomacy is as subtle as arriving at Friday night dinner and lunging for the bread and salads while someone else is still mid-sentence. With the American president, there is no such thing as protocol. In fact, the more unorthodox the move, the more he seems to savor it – tearing off a piece of the roll and returning the rest to the communal plate.

Diplomatic nuance is irrelevant to him. Ideas like "direct talks with Iran grant legitimacy to the regime" don't hold weight. This is the same Trump who bulldozed his way into North Korea – and who might just vacation in Tehran if the package were all-inclusive.

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, June 2019.Credit: Susan Walsh/AP

He is clearly headed toward negotiations with Iran, whether Israel approves or not. At the joint press conference on Monday, Netanyahu stood beside Trumpwith the forced smile of a bride on "Married at First Sight," discovering for the first time that her groom is the Elephant Man.

Nearly three months into Trump's return to power, his worldview is coming into focus: economy, economy, economy. It's all about the money. Even if some Republicans remain hawkish on Iran, the administration knows a war in the Gulf could send oil prices soaring – a political disaster.

Vice President JD Vance already appears more influential than many of his predecessors. He attends high-level foreign policy meetings and led the combative line in talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Whether driven by ideology or instinct, Vance is pursuing a populist, isolationist message. He's focused on oil prices and the economy – not preparing Americans for war with Iran.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance attends a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 7, 2025.Credit: Kevin Mohatt/ REUTERS

Enter Steve Witkoff, the omnipotent special Mideast envoy. He is close to Qatar, a country with layered interests involving Iran, Israel and the United States. He'll likely receive careful hints on how to square the circle.

In the Israel-Hamas negotiations, Witkoff avoided getting bogged down in details – he saw them as an obstacle to the big picture. But with the Iranian nuclear file, the devil is in the details, and there are thousands of them.

To engage in a serious negotiation, Witkoff will need not only a large team, but also focus – a resource that's already being stretched thin by the Russia portfolio. That's bad news for the hostages in Gaza. Their fate is slowly slipping off the American agenda.

Trump's offhanded revelation about Iran stole the headlines, but it wasn't the only concerning moment in an otherwise failed summit. Beneath the radar, the Turkish file quietly resurfaced. After the fall of the Assad regime, Netanyahu proudly briefed the press on what he saw as a strategic masterstroke: Hezbollah was crushed, Assad was gone. No one paused to ask what would come next.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, right, shakes hands with Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa during a joint press conference following their meeting at the presidential palace in Ankara, Turkey, in February.Credit: Francisco Seco/AP

In hindsight, it was the geopolitical equivalent of hitting your other leg with a hammer so the first one hurts less. Instead of Iran's puppet in Damascus – a regime the West didn't mind slapping around – Netanyahu got Turkey, a NATO member led by a president whom Trump genuinely likes. Now, instead of receiving a sympathetic ear in Washington, Netanyahu is brushed off with slogans about how everything will be fine.

Netanyahu also folded on trade. He promised to reduce the $7 billion trade deficit without receiving anything in return. A Finance Ministry official told Haaretz that the commitment "isn't based on any actual policy work. Even with significant effort, we might be able to increase U.S. procurement by $1 to $1.5 billion."

But accuracy wasn't the point. That's what Trump wanted to hear, and Netanyahu – as ever – was happy to comply. If things fall apart later, there's always the attorney general to blame.