{"id":501540,"date":"2026-03-03T16:32:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/501540\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T16:32:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:32:07","slug":"iran-war-could-pose-a-new-test-for-us-israeli-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/501540\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran war could pose a new test for US-Israeli ties"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout his political career, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has steered his country along two pillars of foreign policy: an ironclad partnership with the United States and a relentless diplomatic and covert battle against the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, with Israel and the U.S. in a joint war<\/a> against Iran\u2019s leadership, those two strategic paths risk clashing with each other. By enlisting the U.S. in what he views as Israel\u2019s existential battle against Iran, Netanyahu is taking a gamble that could open up the relationship to the strain of a war<\/a> with far-reaching consequences<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To be sure, persuading U.S. President Donald Trump to join the war was a coup for Netanyahu and highlights the strong ties between the two leaders. If they are successful, they could quickly realize their shared goal of toppling the Iranian government and spare the region a protracted conflict. <\/p>\n

But if the war drags on, the two allies\u2019 ties<\/a> could again be tested.<\/p>\n

\u201cA large part of the American public will view it as the Israeli tail wagging the American dog and that it is dragging the United States to a war in the Middle East that isn\u2019t theirs,\u201d said Ofer Shelah, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based think tank. The drop in public support that might unleash \u201cwill be very harmful for Israel in the medium and long term,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But, he added, in a nod to the Israeli leader\u2019s political ambitions: \u201cNetanyahu is not interested in the medium and long term.\u201d<\/p>\n

US public opinion has been evolving<\/p>\n

For Netanyahu, successfully persuading Trump to strike Iran together is the apex of decades of proximity between the Israeli leader and Washington. Netanyahu, Israel\u2019s longest-serving leader, speaks flawless English after having spent part of his youth in the U.S. and has always portrayed himself as Israel\u2019s bridge to America.<\/p>\n

Although he boasts about his tight relationships with multiple American presidents and members of Congress, Netanyahu over the past two years has seen support for Israel among the American public drop. According to Gallup polling<\/a>, American sympathies in the Middle East have shifted dramatically toward the Palestinians. <\/p>\n

That shift in sentiment has been driven in large part by Democrats. But some Republicans, and even Trump\u2019s own backers<\/a>, have been more outspoken against the diplomatic and financial support the U.S. has continued to grant Israel throughout the past two and a half years, when it has been embroiled in a war on multiple fronts sparked by Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7, 2023, attacks<\/a>. The devastating images from the war in Gaza deepened Israel\u2019s international isolation.<\/p>\n

With a new war against Iran \u2014 the second in less than a year \u2014 Netanyahu is tackling an enemy that he and many Israelis view as an existential threat, citing its support for anti-Israeli militias across the region<\/a>, its ballistic missile arsenal, and its nuclear program. He has led the crusade against Iran on the world stage for much of his career.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu said Sunday in a statement that the U.S. involvement \u201callows us to do what I have been hoping to do for 40 years \u2014 to deliver a crushing blow to the terror regime.\u201d Netanyahu\u2019s office did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment.<\/p>\n

The conflict could spiral<\/p>\n

Days into the war, Israel and the U.S. military appear to be working hand in glove to strike targets \u2014 from the initial attack that killed top Iranian leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to assaults that allowed the forces free rein in Iranian skies.<\/p>\n

But the conflict has already set off aftershocks that could reverberate in the American heartland. At least six U.S. troops have been killed. Travel was disrupted across the region<\/a>, leaving hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded. Oil prices surged<\/a>, raising the prospect of costlier gasoline for U.S. drivers as well as increased prices for other goods at a time when people have been stung by a rising cost of living.<\/p>\n

Questions remain about the direction and aim of the war. It\u2019s unclear whether the air power will be enough to topple Iran\u2019s leadership, who or what should replace that leadership, and what role Israel or the U.S. will have in either. Every day presents new potential land mines.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people will blame Israel if things go badly wrong,\u201d wrote Nadav Eyal, a commentator with the Israeli Yediot Ahronoth daily newspaper. \u201cIsrael cannot afford to lose the American public\u2019s support under any circumstances. That is more important than striking any individual military facility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Aaron David Miller, who served as an adviser on Middle East issues to Democratic and Republican administrations over two decades, said that Netanyahu has little to lose from the war. <\/p>\n

With elections scheduled for the fall, Netanyahu can use the war in Iran to divert attention away from the failures of the Oct. 7 attacks<\/a>, the worst in Israel\u2019s history. Instead, Netanyahu can set himself up as a brave wartime leader who fulfilled a pledge he has made much of his life to confront Iran. <\/p>\n

He can say he did so with support from the American president, who Miller said can pull the brakes on the war whenever he pleases.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Trump feels as if it\u2019s going south, he\u2019ll find a way to de-escalate,\u201d he said, \u201cand his good friend Benjamin Netanyahu will follow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Throughout his political career, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has steered his country along two pillars of foreign…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[228612,180119,23,1927,5620,28,12,793,801,1570,228242,803,1569,1575,228613,3,111,21,792,19,22,20,25,24,964,965],"class_list":{"0":"post-501540","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-aaron-david-miller","9":"tag-ali-khamenei","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-ap-top-news","12":"tag-benjamin-netanyahu","13":"tag-business","14":"tag-donald-trump","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-iran","17":"tag-iran-government","18":"tag-iran-war","19":"tag-israel","20":"tag-israel-government","21":"tag-mideast-wars","22":"tag-nadav-eyal","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-politics","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-government","27":"tag-united-states-of-america","28":"tag-unitedstates","29":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","30":"tag-us","31":"tag-usa","32":"tag-war-and-unrest","33":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}