Leadnaija
Israeli Prime Minister suggested he’s breaking away from the U.S. and forming a new alliance with India as Tel-Aviv and Washington butt heads over the former’s strikes in Lebanon.
The eyebrow-raising comments come as the apparent rift between the U.S. and Israel widens during the 4-month war with Iran. “You have to build new alliances and develop new relationships. That’s what I’m doing right now with India,” Netanyahu told Sharon Gal, a prominent right-wing journalist in Israel.
Last month, Israeli officials denounced the fragile peace deal struck between the U.S and Iran, which seemed to disturb Vice President JD Vance, who told them not to badmouth “the only powerful ally” the Jewish state was “left” with “anywhere in the world.”
“We have some other friends, like a small country called India. It has 1.4 billion people, and boy, do we have tremendous support there.”
Tensions between U.S.-Israel and Iran appeared to boil over in late June when the latter struck three commercial vessels not following its mandated route while traversing the Strait of Hormuz.
Washington responded by airstriking multiple locations harboring Iranian munitions, hitting 170 military targets across the region, according to the U.S. Central Command.
This week marked the end of the current peace deal, according to President Donald Trump, just shy of a month after it was signed.
Israel was partially to blame as it continued to attack Hezbollah targets in Lebanon despite explicit demands from Tehran to stop doing so.
Netanyahu’s refusal to cease attacks in the region, which has killed more than 4,000 civilians since the start of the Iran war, according to the Lebanese government, has complicated more than one peace agreement and has eroded U.S./Israeli relations.
President Trump reportedly used expletives during a phone conversation with the Israeli official regarding the delicacy of a potential peace deal with Iran.
“I’ve done everything to protect you. You better go along with this. It’s been going on for too long. Everybody’s sick of you, Bibi,” he had said
