Israel lost Iran because it lost America

How Netanyahu’s failed foreign policy strategy put Israel in danger and what we need to do to fix it

Putting aside the details of the deal made by the Trump Administration and the Islamic Republic and their Revolutionary Guards, it is common consensus here in Israel that Israel has lost the war with Iran. Many feel we are now in greater danger than we were before this current conflict started. And while many analyses will focus on tactics Israel used to fight a neighbor many times its size, I would like to focus on what I believe to be the main cause of failure: Israel lost to Iran because it lost America.

I believe it is critical to underscore this point because it highlights how critical foreign policy is to Israel’s security, and why Benjamin Netanyahu’s failure to take that front seriously has been so damaging to our standing. Specifically, Netanyahu is famous for his disdain for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, notorious for setting himself up to be the only spokesperson for Israel in English, and guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt for breaking the bipartisan American consensus on Israel. We are now reaping the poisoned grain he sowed.

It is absolutely the case that Israel was facing formidable adversaries on this international political front: Qatar alone invested hundreds of billions in buying influence across the West while Netanyahu let Israel’s foreign affairs wither. We know Netanyahu knew about these investments. And, of course, Qatar was not the only one: while American politicians are getting mileage from anti-AIPAC pledges, the lobbies for the Oil Industry and the Oil Kingdoms buoyed by their profits have invested many times over what the Jews have in shaping the American, European, and East Asian electorates. Netanyahu had decades to mount a significant offensive to counter their efforts. He did not. We are now paying the price for his negligence.

There are those who say the problem isn’t with the marketing, it is with the product: Israel and its relationship with its Palestinian residents. Perhaps. I, too, believe Israel needs to end its military rule over Judea and Samaria, and will continue to work towards the day when Israel’s borders are firmly established besides a Palestinian State. Yet one cannot ignore the fact that Middle Eastern regimes in which slavery continues to be practiced (such as in the Gulf) and actual apartheid laws exist (such as in Lebanon) currently enjoy far more support from the global public than Israel does. In other words, yes, Israel has what to improve, but when you lose a popularity contest to slavedrivers and Jim Crow the marketing also has something to do with it.

Had Netanyahu spent even 1% of Israel’s annual defense budget on countering the diplomatic offensive against the Jewish State (the defense budget before October 7th, 2023, was 63 Billion NIS or approximately $17.5B USD) we would be in a very, very different position today. Had Netanyahu taken the international diplomatic arena seriously after October 7th, and leveraged international sympathy for Israel in the weeks after the horrible invasion, we might have had an international coalition working with us to make Israel more secure. And had Netanyahu taken into account the numerous warnings American and European Jewish leaders have shared with his office and representatives since public opinion turned against Israel in early 2024, we may have been able to defeat Iran with a comprehensive alliance. Netanyahu is responsible for each of these failures.

As a result, Israel’s social capital is now bankrupt. Those who we could once count on to weigh our interests along with theirs have found more profitable endeavors elsewhere. American politicians have now found they gain much more by opposing issues seemingly beneficial to the Jewish State than speaking out on its behalf. The Republican party has decided to cut off Israel in the hope of continuing to run their country. Say what you will about Donald J. Trump, but the man knows how to declare bankruptcy and move on. In this case, Israel is left with the bill.

If we are ever to turn this around, it will fall upon Israel’s next leadership to pay that bill. Unfortunately, until now, none of the leaders of Israel’s opposition parties made foreign policy a central part of their talking points. Certainly none of them have educated the Israeli public as to the importance of good relations to Israel’s security. I know, because over the past few years I’ve repeatedly tried to engage political leadership and their senior staff in conversations about the centrality of foreign relations in security policy, and I’ve been repeatedly told by those same leaders that Israel’s international relations are simply not a priority issue.

Hopefully, this current debacle with Iran will change their minds. And if not, we must make them change their minds. We,  who love Israel and want it to succeed, need to demand three things: first, that Israel integrate its foreign affairs and defense strategies out of a recognition that Israel will forever be vulnerable if it does not have allies to count upon; second, that Israel reflect that strategic understanding in its budget and decision making structure, out of the recognition that military force will not secure us alone; and third, that Israel need not go it alone: we will have much more success if we work together with Jewish communities around the world who have a far better understanding of local politics than Israelis will ever have. But that will require our leadership to ensure diaspora communities feel at home in Israel, which means breaking the orthodox monopoly on Judaism in the State.

This coming election in Israel is a referendum on a number of issues: the role of the executive branch and the influence of the judiciary; the special status of the ultra-Orthodox public; the laxness that failed to prevent the horrific attacks of October 7th; the policy of the current government in Judea and Samaria; the rampant crime among Arab communities in Israel. Each of these issues stands before itself, and Netanyahu, as the longest ruling Prime Minister of Israel, shares responsibility for all of them. Israel’s foreign policy failure and its result, however, is the sole responsibility of one man alone: Benjamin Netanyahu. Yet it is not enough to blame him. We need our next leaders to learn from his failures and ensure Israel is never alone again.