Netanyahu’s worst nightmare: a Trump-Rouhani meeting

Israel is very busy. It is escalating its war with Iran and Hezbollah and, for the first time in about five years, is even attacking Lebanese territory, according to foreign reports. However, preliminary signs suggest that the real nightmare awaiting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is brewing not in Tehran or Beirut, but in Washington. There are hints that President Donald Trump is taking steps to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, under French mediation. This is bad news for Netanyahu — the worst he has ever received apart from the criminal charges he faces. The appeasing tones that have suddenly emerged from Trump’s mouth regarding Iran can morph into Israel’s ultimate horror scenario as described here in earlier articles: Iran can turn into a new North Korea. In fact, Trump could turn out to be a sort of demon who changes forms overnight, replacing his campaign against Iran with a sizzling love affair.

Israel does not collect intel on US territory or spy on its greatest friend of all; it learned its lesson from the Pollard affair. That doesn’t mean that Israel doesn’t try to understand American policy, analyze the administration’s moves and congressional influence or elaborate various theoretical scenarios for future American moves. Israel’s best brains are involved in these analyses that are very important to Israel’s national security. But today, the best of the analyzers is at a loss vis-a-vis reality. Evidently, it is harder to predict Trump’s moves than to understand the secret of creation.