Column: New Jewish Narrative
June 15, 2026
Q. US President Trump appears to have accepted a framework deal with Iran that ignores many of Israel’s (and America’s) declared war aims against that country.
A. Indeed, the parties (with Israel absent) were scheduled this Friday to sign off on a negotiating framework that is understood by Israel to comprise a ceasefire, including in Lebanon, opening of the Hormuz Straits and some form of nuclear supervision. Middle East oil will flow again. Down the line, the US will release billions in frozen Iranian funds.
Little appears to remain of US and Israeli demands to restrict Iran’s missile arsenal and sever Iranian support for proxies like Hezbollah. No one is dismantling the ayatollahs’ regime, thereby (by omission) legitimizing it.
Lebanon with its weak government and dominant pro-Iran Shiites remains caught up in the middle of all this. Not surprisingly, the US-Iran agreement, as yet unsigned and unimplemented, was born only after a last-minute flare-up in Lebanon: Hezbollah (on orders from Tehran?) attacked Israel; the IAF bombed Beirut; Iran threatened missiles on Israel; Trump made additional concessions to Iran.
If indeed the deal is signed in Switzerland on Friday as currently planned, Israel finds itself still confronting heavily armed and hostile neighbors in southern Lebanon, Gaza and of course Iran, all enjoying some form of Trump-blessed regional accommodation. With Knesset elections approaching, Netanyahu has little to show--and a lot of losses in lives and damage to international standing to explain--since the massacre of October 7, 2023.
All of this begs the question: what happened to the Israel-US alliance that kicked off this latest war with Iran? How could Netanyahu so badly misjudge Trump and America’s strategic needs in the Middle East, which have seemingly been satisfied by wily Iranian negotiators?
Why is Trump now openly questioning Netanyahu’s political future? How much love is lost between these two?
These are questions that will test the coming months of US-Iranian negotiations and the totally unpredictable nature of Trump as a negotiator. Needless to say, Trump, with the flick of a finger on his phone, can completely invert and reverse the picture. Stay tuned.
Yossi Alpher's Death Tango: Ariel Sharon, Yasser Arafat and Three Fateful Days in March
"Anyone seeking to understand how Israelis and Palestinians traded the hopes of Oslo for something approaching hopelessness is well-advised to read this book. With penetrating analysis and elegant prose, Yossi Alpher has told the gripping story of three days nearly two decades ago that continue to haunt would-be peacemakers. Yossi’s faithful readers will not be disappointed with his latest effort."
Ambassador Frederic C. Hof, Bard College
"A riveting account of the crucial days in March 2002 when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was profoundly changed for the worse. The peace camp has never recovered from those wrenching days, and we live now without any hope of a just settlement. Alpher is a highly respected expert who has spent decades studying this conflict from both sides."
Bruce Riedel, Director of the Brookings Intelligence Project
"A critical assessment of a key period in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict never before presented in such detail. The best and most capable players at the executive and political levels proved unable to forge any resolution, final or partial, because both parties continued to maintain an insurmountable gulf between themselves. This is a MUST read for anyone daring to tackle the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and of Israel-Arab relations in general."
Efraim Halevy, former Head of the Mossad (1998-2002)
Oraib Khader and Avi Bar-On are youngish Palestinian and Israeli bachelors with security experience, readiness to do business with one another, a shared fondness for women and money, and total cynicism about the lack of peace between their two peoples.
Oraib and Avi can never become true friends: the cultural and political gaps are too wide. But as they confront a failed peace process and a bleak peace future, they readily become business partners: shady business that exploits a lot of naïve international peace aspirations.
As Oraib sums up on a visit to Sarpsborg, Norway, where the ultimately-failed Oslo peace talks were held, “There is a lesson here for those who still doggedly and hopelessly pursue a two-state solution in the Middle East. Get smart. Get out of the Israeli-Palestinian peace business. Step back and let the Jews and Arabs screw one another while making money.”