Why isn’t Israel celebrating fresh steps against Iran? Because praising Australia, France, and the UK would mean admitting they aren’t the Israel-hating, terror-supporting antisemites Netanyahu claims.

If there’s one thing that has been a constant feature of Israeli foreign policy, it is support for governments around the world taking tough action against Iran. Whenever a foreign government would place sanctions on Tehran or downgrade its relations with the Islamic Republic, Israel would offer words of congratulations, often from the mouth and social media accounts of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself.

But this week, four Western countries took important decisions against Iran, and Israel barely mentioned their action. First was Australia, which expelled the Iranian ambassador after determining that Iran was involved in antisemitic crimes that took place on Australian soil, including the torching of a synagogue. It was the first time Australia had expelled an ambassador of any country since World War II.

Next came the joint decision of France, the UK and Germany to start the process of reinstating "snapback sanctions" on Tehran, in response to its violations of the 2015 nuclear agreement, which aimed to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. The return of those sanctions could have severe economic consequences for Iran and isolate it further internationally.

Israel’s foreign minister called the decision “inevitable” in a social media post, but stopped short of thanking or congratulating the countries responsible for it. The contrast between his choice of words in this case, and the flattery and praise he and other members of this government regularly extend to the Trump administration when it comes to decisions against Iran, was impossible to ignore. In June, after the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Sa'ar wrote: “Trump wrote his name tonight in golden letters in the history books.”

So why isn’t the Israeli Government celebrating a string of important international steps against Iran, its biggest enemy? The reason is simple: praising Australia, France and the UK for taking a tough line against Iran would force the Netanyahu Government to admit that these countries, contrary to recent public statements by the prime minister and others in his coalition, aren’t led by Israel-hating, terror-supporting, blood-libel-spreading antisemites. Such an admission would lay bare the actual source of opposition from those governments to Netanyahu’s policy in Gaza.

In recent months, Netanyahu unleashed public diatribes against the leaders of all three countries in response to their growing criticism of his prolonging of the war in Gaza, Israel’s failure to address the enduring starvation in Gaza, and their choice to declare support for recognition of a Palestinian state.

Instead of bringing them into his decision-making and convincing the leaders of his greater strategy, Netanyahu chose to describe Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as “betraying” Israel and the Jews, accused French President Macron of “pouring fuel on the antisemitic fire,” and turned British Prime Minister Keir Starmer into a terror sympathiser.

Now, when all three of them have taken strong action against Iran — at the same time as expressing criticism of Israel over Gaza — Netanyahu can’t swallow his pride in favour of Israel’s interests and acknowledge a good thing when he sees it.

But that doesn’t change the diplomatic reality: Criticising his failed “forever war” policy in Gaza isn’t antisemitism, and countries that apply pressure on Iran can also be critical of Israel. It’s a loss for Israel that Netanyahu and the extremists in his government can’t see this.

Republished from Haaretz Today, 28 August 2025

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.