US policy changes leave Israel alone against Iran
Israel is suddenly facing a new reality in which the Iranians are free to attack Saudi infrastructure and the Turks attack Kurds in Syria.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally found time to react to the Turkish invasion of northern Syria, condemning it in a politically correct tweet Oct. 10. While he warned of the “ethnic cleansing of the Kurds by Turkey and its proxies,” he made no mention of how the United States had abandoned northern Syria, the issue reverberating most loudly across the Middle East and in the corridors of Israel’s worried defense establishment.
It took Netanyahu three long days to release his feeble condemnation of the Turkish attack. They were three very difficult days, as befits the difficult process of waking up about President Donald Trump. The president’s surprising announcement that the United States would immediately withdraw from Syria, followed by the no less sudden Turkish invasion of the Kurdish region, dealt the death blow to Israel’s hopes and expectations regarding its northern front.
“We’ve been left all alone now,” a high-ranking defense official admitted to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. “The strategic balance of power is shifting right before our eyes. The bad guys won, and the good guys are abandoning us. Now, Israel is left almost on its own to deal with the powerful Turkish-Russian-Iranian axis.”
On Oct. 6, right before Trump's dramatic announcement and the ensuing Turkish invasion, Netanyahu called an urgent meeting of his security cabinet. For the first time in months, the cabinet gathered to discuss the latest developments in the region, not least the Iranian threat, which became much more tangible after Iran attacked Saudi Arabia’s petroleum infrastructure.
