In a rare moment of consensus, Israeli political forces unanimously criticize the two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran. And while left-leaning politicians are dissatisfied with Prime Minister Netanyahu, conservatives criticize Trump.
A few hours after the announcement of a two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran on Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued a brief statement saying: "Israel supports Donald Trump's decision to suspend strikes on Iran for two weeks."
"Israel also supports US efforts to ensure that Iran no longer poses a nuclear, missile, and terrorist threat to America, Israel, Iran's Arab neighbors, and the entire world," the statement said.
"The United States has informed Israel that it is committed to achieving these goals shared by the US, Israel, and its regional allies during the upcoming negotiations."
However, within Israel and across the political spectrum, the reaction was far from favorable.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid sharply criticized Netanyahu, accusing him of failing to secure Israel's demands in the ceasefire agreement.
"Such a diplomatic disaster has not occurred in our entire history," he stated in a post on X, noting that "Israel was not even at the negotiating table when decisions regarding the core of our national security were made."
"The army did everything that was required of it, the public showed remarkable resilience, but Netanyahu suffered a political and strategic failure and did not achieve any of the goals he set for himself."
Lapid also said that it would take Israel "years to recover from the political and strategic damage inflicted by Netanyahu due to arrogance, negligence, and a lack of strategic planning."
Speaking in March in an interview with Euronews' "12 Minutes With," Lapid acknowledged that it is impossible to convince or "push" the US president to make any decision, even from Israel's side.
"Does Donald Trump seem like a person you can manipulate? I don’t think so," Lapid said in the Euronews interview. "He is the president of the largest military army in the history of mankind. He is a decisive person."
"Israel is filled with gratitude and admiration for his courage, for his moral clarity on this issue, for deciding to enter this war, understanding that it is a defense of peace on Earth."
Lapid then stated that, except for First Lady Melania Trump, he does not think "anyone can make Donald Trump do what he does not want to do."
Yair Golan, head of the left-leaning "Democrats" party, accused Netanyahu of lying.
"Netanyahu lied. He promised a 'historic victory' and security for generations, and in reality, we have experienced one of the most serious strategic failures Israel has known," Golan wrote on the X platform.
Golan stated that after "blood was shed, brave citizens died (and) soldiers fell... none of the goals were achieved."
"The nuclear program was not destroyed, the ballistic threat remains, the regime persists and becomes even stronger after this war," he added.
Conservative Israeli politicians directed their criticism at Trump.
Avigdor Lieberman, head of the "Yisrael Beiteinu" party, warned that "a ceasefire with Iran gives the Ayatollah regime a breather and time to regroup."
"Any agreement with Iran, without renouncing the destruction of Israel, uranium enrichment, ballistic missile production, and support for terrorist groups in the region, means we will return to a new war under harsher conditions and at a higher cost," Lieberman wrote.
The ceasefire deal was also immediately criticized within Netanyahu's coalition, including by the head of the National Security Committee, Tzvika Foghel, who lashed out at Trump on X.
"Donald, you looked like a duck," Foghel wrote.
Foghel did not comment on Netanyahu's role in the ceasefire and deleted this post on X shortly after publication.
