In a recent interview, he said that he expects a radical transformation in the Middle East as a result of the United States abandoning its policy of full and unconditional support for Israel. He does not believe that this will happen after the current president leaves office but even sooner, before Trump leaves the White House.
According to Levy, the reason for this dramatic shift is the war on Iran, into which Israel drew the United States and which has imposed enormous costs without achieving any of its intended objectives. He says that the war has unleashed a broad wave of questioning within American society about the reasons behind it and whether it was worthwhile.
Levy argues that Netanyahu convinced Trump the Iranian regime would collapse within days of the outbreak of war. That did not happen. On the contrary, the war has strengthened the ruling regime and made it more steadfast in its positions. Moreover, there is still no clear evidence that Iran’s nuclear capabilities have been destroyed.
Levy, the well-known weekly columnist for Haaretz and the recipient of several awards for his defence of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, says the declared objectives of the war — none of which has been achieved so far — appear to have been forgotten. According to him, the war’s purpose has now been reduced to reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which had been open to international navigation before the conflict but was closed as a consequence of it.
He believes that growing opposition to the war within American society, which has significantly reduced Trump’s popularity according to the latest polls, will push Trump to reconsider his positions on Israel. Levy further argues that the policy of absolute and unconditional American support for Israel will have no place in the next US administration, whether its president is a democrat or a republican.
Levy concludes that without such support, Israel will no longer be the Israel we know today, and the Middle East as we know it will not remain the same. It is a vision of the future that, had it been advanced by an Arab analyst, would probably have been dismissed as wishful thinking.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 18 June, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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