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Former Israeli Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann said Saturday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political weakness had enabled US President Donald Trump to lead both Netanyahu and Israel through an “unprecedented journey of humiliation.”
Writing in the Israeli newspaper Maariv, Friedmann assessed the consequences of the war in the Gaza Strip and its impact on Israel’s international standing and global image.
Fallout from Gaza war, global perception shift
Friedmann said the images seen by millions worldwide are “a devastated Gaza Strip, dead and wounded children, and people wandering among the rubble, living in tents under the scorching sun or heavy rain.”
“There are those in Israel who believe all this serves Israel’s interests and has strengthened its deterrence,” he wrote. “But that is only a partial truth. The limited deterrence achieved must be weighed against the price reflected in the transformation of global consciousness, including shifts in the Arab world, most of which are contrary to Israel’s interests.”
He said that in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023 events, global public opinion largely turned against the Palestinian group Hamas.
“But as the war continued and time passed, the destruction in Gaza pushed discussion of Hamas’ attack aside, and people around the world, including our friends and allies, increasingly turned against Israel,” he added.
Criticism of violence in occupied West Bank
Friedmann argued that the shift in global opinion had led to what he described as a decline in Israel’s international standing and growing public support for the Palestinian position.
He also warned about what he called “Jewish terrorism” in the occupied West Bank and criticized what he described as unequal treatment of Jewish and Arab attackers, alongside statements from government ministers and coalition lawmakers.
“All this rhetoric constitutes an attack on Israel’s security, undermines its standing, strengthens its enemies and increases the risk of sanctions against it,” he wrote.
Claims of US influence over Israeli decision-making
Turning to relations with Washington, Friedmann said Netanyahu’s political weakness had allowed Trump to guide both him and Israel through “an unprecedented journey of humiliation.”
He recalled that in September 2025, Israel carried out “a failed attempt” to assassinate senior Hamas officials who had traveled to Qatar for negotiations on a US-backed ceasefire and prisoner exchange proposal for Gaza.
According to Friedmann, Trump subsequently “demanded that Netanyahu apologize to the Qatari leader and pledge that Israel would not carry out attacks on Qatari territory.”
He said Netanyahu’s apology was delivered in a phone call from the White House and later reported globally.
Iran framework agreement and regional constraints
Friedmann also criticized a US framework agreement with Iran, saying it imposed limits on Israel’s actions, “or more precisely, its inaction,” against Hezbollah while disregarding Israel’s position.
He argued that Trump was eager to end the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to restore global energy flows. “To achieve that, he was prepared to pay not only with American dollars, but also with Israel’s interests,” he wrote.
“In this way, we became a tradable commodity in an international struggle over which we have no influence.” He added: “Since World War II, there has not been such an attempt to trade Jews and make deals at their expense.”
Netanyahu accused of prioritizing political survival
Despite his criticism, Friedmann said, “We owe Trump a great deal,” while also accusing Netanyahu of prioritizing personal political survival over state interests.
He argued that Netanyahu had prolonged the war in Gaza, allowing him to remain in office despite what Friedmann described as a major political failure.
Friedmann said there was an “advantage” to Trump influencing Israeli policy under current circumstances, adding: “We owe him for stopping the endless war in Gaza and bringing the hostages back.”
“There are also doubts about the logic of conducting the war in Lebanon. Perhaps it is better that he stops us there as well.”
Israel at crossroads between competing political visions
However, he warned that external influence over Israeli decision-making came at a heavy cost. “The price is the loss of the independence for which generations of young Israelis sacrificed their lives,” he said.
Friedmann concluded that Israel stood at a crossroads between competing political visions, contrasting Netanyahu’s coalition with that of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
“This is not merely a question of image, but above all a question of essence: what kind of state do we want to be, and why was it established?”
Netanyahu’s governing coalition includes National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, both of whom have advocated stricter security measures in the occupied West Bank and expanded settlement construction.
Both ministers have also called for greater Israeli control over the occupied West Bank, while Smotrich has repeatedly called for reoccupying the Gaza Strip and rebuilding settlements there. Anadolu
