At this stage, Netanyahu’s locked in to the wider battle, and politics will have to await its turn

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These are momentous — but anxious — days. In retrospect, Trump’s victory over Harris has emerged as a watershed moment in Israel’s history. It’s now safe to say that Netanyahu’s legacy will be defined not by October 7, but by the elimination of the gravest existential threat to the State of Israel since the day of its founding.

The United States struck after midnight, almost the same hour as Israel’s early-morning assault, but without the element of surprise. The only ones caught off guard were doom-and-gloom Israeli TV anchors who’d pontificated about Trump’s fickleness even as the attack plans were coordinated with Israel behind the scenes.

The final order, late on Motzaei Shabbos, Israel time, cements Trump’s place in the pantheon of great American presidents who have come to Israel’s aid, but also rockets Bibi to an all-time high in Israeli public opinion.

“There was full coordination between myself and President Trump,” Bibi said in his 5 a.m. statement, shortly after the attack.

Who would have thought that an American president would congratulate the Israeli Air Force in the same breath as his own B-2 bomber pilots? Well, actually, there was someone, someone who for over 30 years put all his chips on his lifetime mission: Binyamin Netanyahu.

If you’re praising Bibi for the past two weeks, you have to acknowledge the backstory — his refusal to take responsibility for October 7, and his laying the groundwork for attacking the Iranian nuclear facilities. At so many stops, he stayed at the wheel, even as many of the passengers pleaded with him to end the ride. In Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria, the domestic and at times the international opposition demanded “ceasefire now.” Bibi didn’t flinch, moving inexorably toward the final goal.

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When it comes to the Bibi-Trump relationship, mainstream Israeli pundits have emerged yet again as those of little faith and equally little knowledge. As recently as two weeks ago, we were told that Trump had thrown him and us under the bus.

Even after the start of the Israeli operation, they shifted back and forth with each Trump statement, the last of which spoke of a two-week delay. Hours before the American strike, headlines were still dominated by the “tense” conversation between Vice President Vance and Israeli officials, against the backdrop of Netanyahu’s statement that Israel can’t afford to wait.

At the exact same moment, in a fortified bunker somewhere (but not under the Kiryah in Tel Aviv, which is in Iran’s target bank), cabinet ministers were being updated on the timing of the American bombers’ takeoff. This level of coordination between the Israeli and American militaries hasn’t been seen since the US became Israel’s greatest arms supplier after the Six Day War.

“We knew that Netanyahu’s coordination with Trump via Ron Dermer was extremely tight,” one cabinet minister told me. “But from the start, our plans didn’t rely on Trump.”

It was clear to the Israelis that American involvement depended largely on the degree of Israel’s success. When it became clear that Israel was winning, as Trump himself put it a day before the strike, American and Israeli interests increasingly overlapped — with Netanyahu interested in an American coup de grace and Trump wanting a share of the glory.

Before and after the American strike, the IAF shifted its target banks to Iran’s future prospects. The old nuclear reactor was targeted despite the fact that Iran had shut it down years ago. The rationale — preventing the Iranians from reviving their nuclear program at their older sites.

There’s no underestimating the importance of Israel’s achievements before America joined the fray, nor the fact that Israel struck first. Had the Americans joined the operation from day one, Israel’s deterrence wouldn’t be at its current all-time high.

What seemed like a fantasy two weeks ago is now real life — the only flights still operating over Israel and Iran are the IAF’s sorties. From 2,000 kilometers away, Israel has worked miracles for the careers of lower-ranking officials in the Iranian military and the IRGC, with lowly lieutenant colonels being promoted to brigadier generals and then major generals in the span of a single week after a string of targeted eliminations.

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IT was once said that Iran has a one-sided border with Israel — Iran’s proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria, sat right on Israel’s border, while Israel had to fly 2,000 kilometers to strike Tehran. In this war, that has changed. Anyone who hears the jets taking off, landing, and taking off again, knows that Iran and Israel are now effectively contiguous — from the skies.

The Iranians, after the destruction of their proxies’ capabilities and the regime change in Syria, can only strike Israel via missiles fired from 2,000 kilometers away. It would be impossible to overstate the significance of this. We’re witnessing a second “v’nahafoch hu” between Jews and Persians.

“I told Bibi, make sure you keep the siyata d’Shmaya,” recounted Aryeh Deri, one of the few Israeli politicians who was in on the plans and participated in closed security meetings.

Deri spoke of the atmosphere in the room after the element of surprise — what Netanyahu termed “Iran’s October 7” — was retained, despite the telling signs that preceded Israel’s strike.

“Bibi raised his hands to the heavens, and told me, ‘It’s all siyata d’Shmaya.’ Then he said something that I quite liked — ‘Siyata d’Shmaya is the biggest faction in the coalition.’

“I told him with a smile: ‘So make sure this party stays in the coalition and don’t chase it away.’”

The help from Above came — on land, air, and sea. Chazal told us long ago Who controls the hearts of “kings and ministers” — and presidents.

The “day after” question is intensified by America’s entry into the war. But in the Israeli political arena, the polls are already out, and Netanyahu is gaining dramatically in every one.

In retrospect, Netanyahu (and Deri’s) insistence on reaching a compromise on the chareidi draft emerges as motivated by a desire to maintain the military option against Iran, not just the coalition. On the eve of the operation, Netanyahu did everything in his power to stabilize the government.

What Netanyahu does when it’s all over is an open question. Will he call immediate elections to capitalize on his success? Or exploit the rest of the term to expand the Abraham Accords at Trump’s side?

Netanyahu’s coalition allies believe that he won’t be in a hurry to dissolve the government. There’s still an entire year left of the current term. After the chaos of the 2019–22 political crisis, that’s equivalent to a full term for a “change” government, let alone the caretaker governments that stewarded the country between campaigns.

At this stage, Netanyahu’s locked in to the wider battle, and politics will have to await its turn. When I asked my source whether in his view Netanyahu will want elections, his answer was appropriate: “Sheket — yorim [Quiet — we’re shooting].”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1067)