CNN
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The smile on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s face was impossible to hide.
Minutes after President Donald Trump announced that the US had bombed three nuclear facilities in Iran, Netanyahu praised the American leader as someone who could guide the region into a “future of prosperity and peace.”
Ever since Israel launched attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities and other targets, Netanyahu and other countries’ politicians from other countries have been careful not to be perceived as dragging Trump into another war in the Middle East. Ultimately, the US, who has joined the campaign and trusted the results, is perhaps even greater success for Netanyahu, who has brought the world’s superpower to Israel’s mission.
Netanyahu spoke about the Iranian threats for most of his political career, and sometimes helped viewers with visual aids like a bomb cartoon at the 2012 UN General Assembly. But the long-standing criticism was that all Netanyahu rhetoric was bark and not biting.
Due to all the stories of the threat Iran poses to Israel and the wider region, Netanyahu never pulled the trigger in major military operations. Instead, he allowed sporadic, high-risk reward operations from Israeli Mossad spy agencies, including assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists and theft of the country’s nuclear archives.
However, Iran’s nuclear program survived almost unharmed, with Netanyahu leaving for many years, with no measurable results on issues seen as existential threats to Israel.
I’ve rewritten the script for the past 10 days.
Aviv Businsky, who worked with Netanyahu during his first term in the late ’90s, called the attack on Iran’s nuclear facility “undoubtedly his greatest achievement.”
The wave of Israel’s first attack and the establishment of air superiority over Iran began a series of military successes that the Trump administration ultimately took part in.
“Netanyahu is seen as someone who was able to coordinate this operation from start to finish,” Businsky told CNN.
The magnitude of success was so great that Businsky claimed that Netanyahu had become one of the country’s top two or three leaders since its establishment in 1948. The “dirt” that does not stop the Hamas-led attack on October 7 remains in Netanyahu, but the attack on Iran quickly became part of his legacy.
“Netanyahu has a signature to remove the nuclear capabilities of the Iranians,” he said.
Now, Netanyahu is facing another challenge soon. Decide what to do next. At least publicly, the United States has made it clear that it considers Iran’s strike to be over unless Iranian forces attack US troops in the region.
But after launching the campaign on its own, Israel is still pushing its advantages. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Brigg. General Effy Deflin said on Sunday that Israel is preparing for a “extending campaign.” Before the weekend, Israel had in itself carried out a military campaign against Iran, which carried out more strikes after the bombing of US nuclear facilities.
“If the war is designed to eliminate Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and the US president says it has destroyed three facilities, why doesn’t Israel announce its mission?” asked rhetorically. “This military solution for everything is fine as long as I understand it is in line with the political goals. And I won’t see them.”
Since the start of the Trump administration, friction between Trump and Netanyahu has been fully on display as the White House pursued a series of steps in the region where it left Israel. Trump’s first trip to the Middle East was blown away by Israel without halting, and the US president surprised Netanyahu in April by signing a ceasefire agreement with Yemen’s Houthis and announcing nuclear negotiations with Israel.
The US decision raised questions about whether Netanyahu could handle the second Trump administration, especially the second Trump administration, which has far more vocal isolationist wings.
All of these questions disappeared in a smoke puff of bunkerbusters in the aftermath of the US as the two leaders thriving praise for each other
The Iranian issue has had widespread consensus among most Israeli society, with the majority of countries viewing nuclear Iran as an existential threat.
A survey by the Israeli Institute of Democracy conducted before the US attacks showed that around 70% of Israelis supported the campaign against Iran, but most believe it is right to launch a strike without guaranteeing US involvement.
That level of support was praised for Netanyahu, even by his detractors.
Ben-Dror Yemini, political analyst for Israel’s renowned Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, said:
But the present moment — the moment when Israel and the US punished strikes at Iran’s nuclear facilities — requires delicate diplomacy and willingness to retreat military success, which appears to have come very easily, Yemini said.
“We have to be smart,” Yemini told CNN. “I hope Netanyahu will be smarter to understand where we are now.”
According to former US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, the decision to act and the decision to wait for each had its own risk element.
“There is risk in the use of any force, and certainly there is risk in such a big decision from the US,” Shapiro said. “However, there was a risk in leaving Iran without acting within weeks of the nuclear bomb when they chose them.”
But Shapiro, who made the key choice to chase Iran’s nuclear facility, said it was a serious mistake to assume the conflict was over.
“I don’t think we should think of this as the end of the story. It depends heavily on how we manage the aftermath of this so that the outcome is positive,” Shapiro told CNN.
Shapiro was asked if the Middle East is now safer than before we were involved in the strike against Iran, depending on whether the bombing campaign destroys or significantly damaged Iran’s nuclear facilities. It also depends on how Iran responds. He said the international community is demanding Iran be absent from escalation.
“It’s too early to celebrate your achievements.”