{"id":502070,"date":"2026-06-20T06:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T06:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/502070\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T06:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T06:07:08","slug":"its-a-big-mistake-israelis-feel-betrayed-and-angry-after-iran-peace-deal-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/502070\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s a big mistake\u2019: Israelis feel betrayed and angry after Iran peace deal | Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Tree brasserie off Herzl Street in Rehovot, there was much that almost everyone agreed on. Few contested that the ceasefire deal concluded by Iran and the US a few days earlier<\/a> was very bad for Israel. \u201cWe were betrayed by President Trump,\u201d said Avi Perez, 55.<\/p>\n

They believed, too, that Israel<\/a>, more than ever, was surrounded by danger that it would have to confront alone. \u201cIt is strange. One day we were in the [bomb] shelters with our children \u2026 The next day, everything is supposed to be normal. But nothing has been resolved,\u201d said Shaham Nowick, 35, as he studied the menu.<\/p>\n

Rehovot, 12 miles from Tel Aviv, has long been held up by pollsters as the epitome of \u201cmiddle Israel\u201d, if such a thing exists in such a diverse and divided country. Rows of Israeli and pride flags flew on major streets, loud rave music blasted on one street corner, Orthodox Jewish men gathered on another, and weekend traffic built up around construction sites for a new bus system.<\/p>\n

Some had come to the brasserie for a break from the news, which on Friday morning was dominated by headlines about renewed fighting in Lebanon<\/a>, where Israeli forces had launched waves of airstrikes, killing 18 people and wounding 33, after Hezbollah, which has close links to Iran, had killed four Israeli soldiers, including a senior officer, in an attack on a tank.<\/p>\n

Many Israelis believe the deal negotiated by the US with Iran<\/a> is a betrayal. Commentators have condemned the deal as a surrender and a humiliation that was \u201ceven worse than Israel had feared\u201d.<\/p>\n

There widespread concern not only that will Iran be able to rebuild stronger than before the conflict, but also that the agreement imposed in Lebanon will restrict Israel\u2019s ability to combat Hezbollah, which is seen as a major threat to the Israel\u2019s north.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsraelis believe that the war in Lebanon is a just war,\u201d said Udi Tenne, a political strategic adviser and international campaign manager in Israel. \u201cEveryone living in Israel understands that Iran and Hezbollah are one and the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Metulla, a northern town metres from Lebanon, there was anger. \u201cEveryone was very pleased with the war [against Iran] but the US agreement is really not good for Israel \u2026 It\u2019s a big mistake,\u201d said Daniel Dorfmann, a restaurateur.<\/p>\n

Others spoke of the \u201cabject failure\u201d of Israel to achieve its war aims of regime change, the destruction of Iran\u2019s nuclear programme and the elimination of its ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n

Worse, after starting the war \u201cshoulder to shoulder\u201d with the US, Israel had ended the conflict marginalised by Washington and dismissed as \u201ca small power\u201d by Donald Trump last week.<\/p>\n

Instead of being invited to the White House to advise Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu has received expletive-laden tirades<\/a> and criticism over the civilian casualties caused by Israel\u2019s relentless offensive in Lebanon, where more than 3,900 people have been killed.<\/p>\n

Nadav Eyal, a columnist in the daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, wrote: \u201cThe words \u2018shock\u2019 and \u2018grief\u2019 fail to describe the feeling in certain parts of the establishment in Israel. A lot of salt is being poured into their wounds now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netanyahu, who is 76 and on trial for corruption, now faces the difficult challenge of convincing voters that only he can keep Israelis safe.<\/p>\n

Prof Tamar Hermann, a specialist in public opinion at the Israel Democracy Institute<\/a>, said: \u201cNetanyahu showed a kind of hubris in defining his aims so clearly. When you fail to achieve them, you are thought of as incapable of fulfilling your promises.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rehovot, where there are very few Palestinian citizens of Israel, is also a bellwether town for Jewish voters, who comprise three-quarters of the electorate in Israel. National polls are now expected in October. \u201cThe coming election will be a major turning point,\u201d said one opposition party senior official last week. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to exaggerate how important this will be for the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faith in Netanyahu was deeply shaken, even among supporters, by the failures that led to the October 2023 attack by Hamas, in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and about 250 abducted. Israel\u2019s relentless and bloody war in Gaza, which killed more than 73,000 people<\/a>, mostly civilians, brought international isolation. Israel now controls<\/a> 70% of Gaza but Hamas still rules over most of the 2.3 million population. Successive offensives in Lebanon against Hezbollah have proved inconclusive.<\/p>\n

Despite the backlash, there are some who remain loyal to Netanyahu. When undecided voters were asked last week who would best stand up to Iran, 43% said a Netanyahu-led coalition.<\/p>\n

At the brasserie, Perez, an engineer, said: \u201cNetanyahu is human, so he makes some mistakes, but he knows how to fix things. He knows what Israel needs. He speaks for his country. Trump speaks for his businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such sentiments mean the coming election is likely to be closely fought. Netanyahu, a veteran of such struggles, may still outmanoeuvre all rivals, analysts say. Hermann said: \u201cI think he is in trouble but I\u2019m not sure what he might have up his sleeve. He is a political Houdini.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee Novick, 34, a doctor in Rehovot, said Israelis were more divided on many issues than ever before. \u201cNetanyahu has been trying to divide us and it has worked. This has been going on for years. And in the meantime, no one cares about the basic stuff \u2013 house prices, for example, or inflation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe Iran when it says it wants to destroy Israel. Why wouldn\u2019t I? But this government is exploiting the war [to get] divisive laws through and just to stay in power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials in opposition political parties also said Jewish Israelis were more divided than ever before. \u201cIsraelis are talking past each other. The common ground isn\u2019t there,\u201d one said.<\/p>\n

Harmann disagrees, however, and pointed out there had been other moments of extreme polarisation in recent decades, such as the 1990s. Instead, she said, most Jewish voters share more than divides them: a belief in an economically liberal model but a strong welfare state funded by progressive taxation, a tough line on security, Israel existing as a Jewish state and a belief that any two-state solution to the conflict with Palestinians is unrealistic.<\/p>\n

More immediately, most support the war in Lebanon and fiercely oppose laws giving Israel\u2019s orthodox communities exemption from conscription.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the talk of polarisation is possibly a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy,\u201d Harmann said.<\/p>\n

In Rehovot, Dahlia Perez, 55, said last week\u2019s events had taught her that \u201cpeace will never come\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was hoping for an end to wars but I think we are always going to have to live by our swords,\u201d she said. \u201cWe understand now that we have no friends and we cannot trust anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the Tree brasserie off Herzl Street in Rehovot, there was much that almost everyone agreed on. Few…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-502070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}