Jerusalem —
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, they will discuss a Middle East that has undergone radical change.
The US president says a deal to end the war in Gaza is likely. But what’s on offer is politically problematic for Netanyahu – and much as the region has transformed, so has Netanyahu. His drastic change in approach makes it all the more difficult to predict what comes next.
For two years, Israeli jets and special forces have undertaken daring missions, striking targets once thought untouchable, with regional capitals from Doha to Tehran and Damascus bearing the scars of Netanyahu’s pledge to reshape the Middle East after the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.
At the United Nations General Assembly last week, Netanyahu proudly touted Israel’s military operations.
“We’ve hammered the Houthis. We crushed the bulk of Hamas’s terror machine, we crippled Hezbollah, taking out most of its leaders and much of its weapons arsenal, we destroyed Assad’s armaments’ in Syria, we deterred Iran’s Shiite militias in Iraq, and most importantly and above everything else, we devastated Iran’s atomic weapons and ballistic missile programs,” he said.
“Israel rebounded from its darkest day to deliver one of the most stunning military comeback
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