Israel och USA attackerar Iran 2026-02-28

Gideon Levy, an Israeli political commentator, says the announcement of a deal between the US and Iran is being seen in Israel as “the defeat of Israel and the personal defeat of Netanyahu”.

Iran was Netanyahu’s “life project”, and now Israel has been “totally excluded from the negotiations” and can only resort to sabotage, Levy told Al Jazeera.

Such sabotage includes what he called “the ridiculous, childish attacks” Israel launched on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday. But now, “it’s very clear that Israel only lost in this game,” he said.

Levy added that the test of Trump’s commitment to reining in Israel is “still to come” as Netanyahu would remain eager to spoil a ceasefire that fails to achieve key Israeli priorities.

“It’s very, very fragile. And I think that one of the biggest challenges of the agreement with Iran is the situation in Lebanon,” he said.

“Because the Iranians succeeded in creating a total linkage between Lebanon and the agreement, and now, really, I don’t see how it will work because Israel is still in Lebanon, has no intention to withdraw from Lebanon and, as long as the troops are there, there will be no ‘total ceasefire’ because there will always be resistance to the Israeli occupation of Lebanon.”

Yair Golan, the leader of the centre-left Democrats, has slammed the agreement.

“In one signature stroke, immense military achievements secured with the courage of our pilots and the blood of our fighters have been erased, while Netanyahu stood on the sidelines – weak, ill, isolated, and powerless,” he said in a social media post.

Golan called the deal “the culmination of many years of failure,” adding that Netanyahu is “ending his tenure with Israel’s enemies stronger, Israel weaker, and the deterrence built with the blood of our fighters eroding before our eyes.”