Published on 6/15/2026
Israeli media revealed the tough positions adopted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu towards the Lebanese file during his recent call with US President Donald Trump, at a time when criticism is mounting within Israel of the agreement between Washington and Tehran and its repercussions on Israeli calculations in the region.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Palestine, Najwan Samri, said that Israeli media reported that Netanyahu informed Trump during their phone call that Israel would not withdraw from the positions it controls in southern Lebanon, and that it was committed to remaining there, while demanding that the Israeli army be given the freedom to continue military operations, which it says target Hezbollah’s military infrastructure and deal with any threat in southern Lebanon.
Samri indicated that no official American position supporting this approach has been issued yet, but Israeli reports, including Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, reported that Israel considers itself not bound by the Lebanese clause in the current agreement, and will not stop its military operations in southern Lebanon.
This trend reflects Israel’s attempt to establish an equation similar to what happened after the ceasefire agreement at the end of November 2024, when the Israeli army continued its operations inside southern Lebanon, and some operations reached areas outside it, including the Bekaa Valley and the southern suburbs of Beirut.
According to what the newspaper reported from Israeli officials, this position was made clear to the American president, with Israel insisting on continuing with it, even if this led to a dispute with the American administration if Tel Aviv was asked to withdraw from southern Lebanon.
In this context, Samri indicated that the recent military escalation and attempts to expand ground operations and advance towards deeper points inside southern Lebanon during the past days were linked, according to the Israeli reading, to seeking to strengthen the negotiating papers before the expected talks with the Lebanese side.
Unusual compatibility
For his part, expert on Israeli affairs, Adel Shadid, said that Israeli society, with its various political trends, from the right to the opposition, showed an unusual consensus in rejecting the memorandum of understanding whose terms were recently announced, and which is supposed to be signed on Friday.
Shadid explained to Al Jazeera that Israeli criticism was not limited to the content of the agreement, but rather extended to the American President, as Israeli political and media circles used sharp expressions that considered that Washington had “abandoned Israel” and that the agreement came at the expense of its security and strategic interests.
He explained that the division within Israel does not revolve around evaluating the agreement as much as it centers around holding responsibility for reaching it, as the Israeli Prime Minister’s partners believe that Trump backed down from his previous conditions and made concessions in favor of Iran, while the opposition considers that this shift came as a result of wrong estimates made by the Prime Minister to the American administration regarding the possibility of overthrowing the Iranian regime or weakening it decisively.
In his explanation of the reasons for the Israeli rejection, Shadid said that Israel did not originally want to reach an agreement with Iran, because any understanding with the Iranian regime is viewed in Israel as an American and international acknowledgment of the continuation of this regime and the strengthening of its regional presence.
He added that one of the main goals raised during the war was to change the political equation in Iran, and not just dealing with the nuclear file, noting that the American and Israeli discourse during previous stages spoke publicly about the possibility of weakening or changing the regime.
He pointed out that Israel believes that the agreement did not address issues that it considers central to it, most notably the Iranian missile program and the role of Iran’s allies in the region, in addition to the continuation of uranium enrichment and the failure to impose restrictions that meet Israeli demands that called for a complete dismantling of the nuclear project.
Shadid pointed out that the prevailing assessment within Israel is that the agreement did not achieve any of the conditions that Tel Aviv was pushing for, and that being satisfied with guarantees linked to Iran not possessing a nuclear weapon is not considered sufficient from the Israeli point of view.
“Strategic failure”
Israeli reactions rejecting the US-Iranian agreement escalated, with sharp positions issued by political parties representing both the government and the opposition, amid accusations of the US administration of overstepping Israel and directing direct criticism of Netanyahu regarding the management of this file.
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir said, in a blog post, that Israel is “not bound” by the agreement reached between the United States and Iran, stressing that his country is “not subject” to the United States.
In the same context, the head of the Israeli Democratic Party, Yair Golan, considered that the agreement was concluded “over Israel’s head,” and said in a blog post that the American-Iranian understanding destroyed what he described as Israeli military achievements, adding that Netanyahu appeared during this process “weak, isolated, and without any influence.”
For his part, former Israeli Chief of Staff and head of the State Camp Party, Benny Gantz, criticized the agreement, describing it in a blog post as a “strategic failure,” warning that its repercussions would push Israel into a “diplomatic, military, and legal conflict” in the coming years.
On Sunday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif announced that a peace agreement had been reached between the United States and Iran stipulating the end of military operations on various fronts, including the Lebanese arena, revealing that the signing ceremony of the agreement would be held in Switzerland on June 19.
For his part, US President Donald Trump announced the completion of the agreement with Iran. Iranian television also quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi as saying, “The text of Islamabad’s memorandum of understanding has become final and on Friday it will be signed in Geneva.”
