The extraordinary Trump-Netanyahu meeting, framed by officials as a moment of existential reckoning, follows shocking warnings from Jerusalem that the White House is preparing to sacrifice Israel's security through cosmetic military gestures and diplomatic appeasement. Security sources cited by The Jerusalem Post (February 8) revealed that Israeli defense officials recently delivered a stark message to their US counterparts: "We told the Americans we will strike alone if Iran crosses the red line we set on ballistic missiles."
This is not mere posturing. The breakdown in trust has reached a breaking point. Military officials have detailed operational plans to unilaterally degrade Iran’s missile capabilities—including strikes on key manufacturing sites—amid mounting fears that President Trump will adopt a "limited strike model" similar to recent US operations against the Houthis in Yemen. "The worry is he might choose a few targets, declare success, and leave Israel to deal with the fallout, just like with the Houthis," a military official told *The Jerusalem Post*, warning that such partial measures "won’t eliminate the core threat."
The alarm intensifies as Netanyahu arrives in Washington gripped by terror that Trump is preparing to sign a narrow nuclear deal that would ignore Tehran's missile arsenal entirely. Writing in Israel Hayom (February 8), analyst Danny Citrinowicz exposes Jerusalem's nightmare scenario: a "historic window of opportunity" to crush the Iranian regime slipping away as Trump retreats toward "limited negotiations only." For Israeli hawks, a narrow agreement would "strengthen the current regime, isolate Israel, leave the missile and proxy issues unresolved, and most critically deprive Israel of the option to strike Iran in the future."
Israeli commentators are drawing catastrophic historical parallels. In a blistering critique published by Ynet, prominent voice Ben-Dror Yemini warns that Trump is walking the same perilous path as Neville Chamberlain at Munich, granting "legitimacy to the envoys of Khamenei" while the Iranian regime massacres protesters. Yemini argues that the very act of negotiating provides a lifeline to a regime that was on the verge of economic collapse, stating that "the talks themselves are a boost to the regime of terror and not the way to topple it."
The strategic rupture is now public. Brig.-Gen. Omer Tishler, the incoming air force commander, is accompanying Netanyahu to Washington to underscore that Israel reserves "freedom of action" and will not allow Iran to restore strategic weapon systems threatening Israel’s existence. With no defense attaché currently in Washington—following Defense Minister Israel Katz's refusal to approve the military’s nominee—the absence of normal diplomatic channels only underscores the crisis: Jerusalem no longer trusts routine coordination to prevent American abandonment.
As Netanyahu prepares to walk into the White House, the message from Israeli officials is unmistakable: faith in Trump has collapsed. If the President chooses partial measures and diplomatic theater over comprehensive military action, Jerusalem will have no choice but to defend itself—alone, unilateral, and potentially against Washington's wishes.
Photo: Gemini AI