Fifty years ago, then-prime minister Menachem Begin said it plainly: “Israel is not a banana republic.” He wasn’t grandstanding; he was drawing a line. When an ally uses public pressure to bend Israel’s will on core sovereign decisions, Jerusalem must push back politely, firmly, and with a plan to reduce points of dependency that invite leverage.
Recent days have revived Begin’s warning. On October 23, 2025, Donald Trump said in an interview that he was “making a decision” about whether to push for the release of Marwan Barghouti, the convicted terrorist and Fatah figure serving multiple life sentences.
Meanwhile, Vice President J.D. Vance this week dismissed a Knesset vote as “stupid” and “insulting.”
And according to the Jerusalem Post, a U.S. official warned Netanyahu: “If he f**s up the agreement [referring to Gaza], Donald Trump will f**k him.” This isn’t diplomacy. It’s open pressure on Israel’s political system.
This isn’t the first time Trump has chosen to flex his power in front of cameras rather than behind them. On February 28, 2025, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was at the White House for what should have been a routine meeting. Instead, in the Oval Office he was sharply upbraided and visibly sidelined in front of the press. That same “strongman on stage” dynamic is now being aimed at Israel.
Some dismiss this as “just Trump being Trump.” But when a U.S. president speaks this way, both allies and adversaries listen - and adversaries hear something dangerous: a gap between Israel and Washington that can be exploited.
If Israel doesn’t want to be treated like a banana republic, it must ensure it can stand on its own feet in critical areas. That doesn’t mean breaking with Washington, but it does mean making American leverage less absolute.
Israel can do this by gradually increasing its ability to produce and store key weapons and defensive systems at home, expanding energy and logistics resilience, strengthening its independent intelligence and communications networks, and building financial buffers that reduce its exposure to political pressure in Washington. It can deepen ties with other friendly nations to avoid being dependent on any single partner.
And perhaps most importantly, it must treat diplomacy with the U.S. as a relationship between equals: disagreements should be handled quietly and strategically - not on a public stage where humiliation is part of the script.
Netanyahu’s challenge now is to avoid becoming a prop in someone else’s political theater. Zelenskyy let the president control the optics and the narrative. Netanyahu is far too experienced to fall into that trap. He can minimize exposure by tightly managing joint appearances, speaking through Israel’s institutions rather than personal appeals, and calmly projecting sovereignty instead of defensiveness.
By keeping sensitive issues in private diplomatic channels and maintaining broad bipartisan ties in Washington, he can blunt Trump’s public pressure without escalating it. Begin did it with quiet firmness; Netanyahu can, too.
This is not about turning away from Washington. U.S.-Israel cooperation saves lives, strengthens deterrence, and projects shared values. But the best alliances are between equals, not between a patron and a dependent. Israel’s task is to ensure that when a U.S. president seeks to “call the shots,” Israel still holds the trigger.
Begin didn’t just make a speech about banana republics; he built a policy to ensure Israel wasn’t one. The time has come to do it again - not with anger, but with clarity, strategy, and quiet strength.
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