US President Donald Trump’s self-imposed two-week delay to decide whether to strike Iran has sparked confusion and conjecture in Israel.
Some of Israel’s most senior officials had openly pushed for US involvement, arguing that American military involvement can shorten the conflict and allow Israel to achieve its goal of removing what is has long perceived as an existential threat of a nuclear Iran armed with ballistic missiles.
“We believe that the United States of America and the president of the United States have an obligation to make sure that the region is going to a positive way and that the world is free from Iran that possesses (a) nuclear weapon,” former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told earlier this week. Gallant was involved in planning the Iran operation before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired him in November.
But after Trump’s new timeline, Israel’s political leaders are being careful in their statements, not wanting to be seen as pushing the president into the exact type of Middle East conflict he has long sought to avoid. Netanyahu and others are more cautious now in their public messaging, extolling the potential benefits of US involvement without calling for it.
spoke to half a dozen Israeli officials to better understand how the country’s leadership sees this critical moment in the conflict, as Trump weighs whether to join the Israel’s ongoing military campaign. Most spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the relations between the US and Israel.