'Netanyahu in Washington to push America into war'

Conflicts Forum’s compilation of consequential observations & strategic developments in Israel, 10 February 2026

Netanyahu’s “concrete demands” to Trump /

Oman Talks -- Israel in the dark on Trump’s endgame /

Yehudit Karp, Former Deputy Attorney General: ‘Israel’s Moral Choice and the “horrifying reality of Jewish terrorism under government auspices” in the Occupied Territories’ /

The End of the Oslo Accords and the Palestinian Authority /

Maj. Gen. (res.) Yitzhak Brik: ‘Israel is on the road to destruction’ /

October 2026 Elections — Netanyahu vs. a divided “Coalition of Good Intentions”

[These compilations are drawn from analysis & commentary by leading Israeli political, social and cultural commentators, predominantly published in Hebrew — as reports published in Hebrew often provide a different window on Israeli internal discourse].

CONSEQUENTIAL OBSERVATIONS & STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENTS:

Netanyahu travels to Washington to push America into war (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth Ahoronot):

On October 31, 1973, nine days after the ceasefire … PM Golda Meir landed in Washington. [She] saw how the American administration was sorting out the Middle East the day after the war, making new friends and abandoning old ones. She was terrified. “I’m willing to live with another war,” she told [Kissinger]. “I’m not willing to wake up in the middle of the night and find out you made a deal behind my back.” She hoped to drive a wedge between President Nixon and his Secretary of State. “The cards are no longer in her hand,” Nixon told Kissinger on the eve of the meeting. “She’ll face a serious problem when she comes to me.” When she entered, he waved her off … The American dictate prevented Israel from defeating the Third Army, the absolute victory at the time, but it opened the process that led to the signing of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. Dare turned out sweet.

[Today] Netanyahu [took] off on his hasty flight to Washington. The enemy this time is not Kissinger but two other Jews – Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. As then, the coveted target is the President’s ear … Netanyahu will muster all the flattering words he has used to this day ... This time flattery will not be enough. The task Netanyahu is taking on is very difficult. He is asking Trump to act against his gut feeling, against the vision of his movement and the inclinations of his voters, against the pressures of his partners in the Middle East and against the briefings he has received from his emissaries on the ground. The dangers are known and glory is not guaranteed. Nevertheless, Netanyahu is offering Trump a gamble. The benefits that Israel could derive from an attack on Iran are clear: production systems for unconventional weapons and missiles will be destroyed; the regime will be weakened; perhaps its motivation to invest in proxies will also be weakened. The cost is less talked about: [The] June [operation] was so exciting, so brilliant, so good for morale, that it made one forget the prices that Israeli citizens paid with their lives, their bodies, their property, their scientific work.

Netanyahu will have to convince Trump that another operation will surpass the previous one in its results, in its glory, and will be over in a few days and will benefit not only Israel but, above all, Trump and his midterm elections. He will have to convince him that the Iranian regime is no different from the regime in Venezuela, whose overthrow was the greatest achievement of his foreign policy … Convincing Trump that Iran is ready to fall at his feet, in the blink of an eye, is a very challenging task … The Israeli PM is traveling to Washington to push America into war … [Netanyahu’s] bet is twofold: one, if he fails; two, if he succeeds, and entangles Trump in a never-ending war.