Israel is making plans for a post-America Middle East

Asked what worries him most, Israeli Consul General in New York Ofir Akunis said it’s not the uncertainty surrounding the war with Iran, nor the other bouts of turmoil and conflict ravaging the Middle East—it’s a drift in American politics he warns could one day spell the end of a historic alliance.

Citing recent electoral victories by progressive Democratic Party candidates espousing criticism of Israel and United States intervention abroad, Akunis argued that “the reality is that some people here, for sure, prefer the ayatollahs rather than the American administration.”

“You can hate your president, you can love your president, you can ignore him, you can want to change the administration,” Akunis told Newsweek. “All of this is within the frame of the democratic game. But to prefer your enemies rather than your political opponents, this is something new.”

And while the senior Israeli diplomat said it was his “hope that the United States of America will always be with us,” he asserted that “we will need to prepare ourselves to be more independent than we used to be” given the trends he was witnessing.

Already, Akunis said, Israel has a proven record of indigenous security achievements, including the formidable Iron Dome and other domestically produced defense systems that have blunted the worst of rocket, missile and drone waves that have bombarded the nation since the Palestinian Hamas movement’s October 2023 assault that plunged the region into crisis.

But an enhanced sense of independence does not necessarily mean going it alone.

“Beside our allyship with the United States,” Akunis said, “we will continue building coalitions other countries.”

Israel’s New Friends and Foes

Among the countries with which Israel has ramped up relations in recent years are India, Greece and Cyprus, part of what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to as a “hexagon of alliances” ahead of a visit by Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in February, days before the U.S. and Israel launched the joint war against Iran.

Another key success in Israel’s outreach has been the United Arab Emirates, which, along with fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member Bahrain, normalized ties through the Abraham Accords initiative in 2020, later followed by Sudan and Morocco.

Akunis said the list was not limited to these nations, however. With Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar returning Friday from South America, Akunis said: “Now, there is a positive change toward Israel in, let’s say, Colombia, and that’s very good—by the way, other places as well.”

“Every country that will want to cooperate, that will want to trade, that will want to be our ally, they are more than welcome,” Akunis said. “We are for it, for all the countries around the world. As I said, it takes two to tango.”

But it’s not just Iran and its own coalition—the predominantly Shiite Muslim Axis of Resistance that includes the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and Yemen’s Ansar Allah, widely known as the Houthi movement—that Israel sees on its threat radar.

An emerging “quartet” comprising the leading Sunni Muslim powers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan is also viewed with deep suspicion by Israeli officials. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the world’s only Muslim nuclear weapons powers, signed a defense pact last September and Turkey, a member of the U.S.-led NATO alliance, was also included in a new mutual defense deal signed by the trio on Friday.

Shortly after the announcement of the agreement, Netanyahu and Modi held a call discussing their partnership and developments in the Middle East.

Ankara’s inclusion spells particular concern given the increasingly hostile exchange of rhetoric between Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who Akunis described as “extreme” and “insane,” referencing Erdogan’s shift against Israel nearly two decades ago and his support for activist flotillas attempting to break the blockade of Gaza.

“So maybe one day, maybe I don’t know, in the near future, something will happen in Turkey as well,” Akunis said, “And we can find ourselves in a much better situation, like it was until this crazy man actually changed his mind toward the State of Israel and encouraged terror attacks.”

‘We Have Plans’

Whether Turkey may prove the next foe after Iran, Akunis stated that “the ayatollahs are still in Iran. So, we need to solve this problem, and then we’ll talk about the next challenge.”

Iran’s resilience has complicated U.S. and Israeli goals, with some Israeli officials, including Akunis, having considered the possibility that the Islamic Republic may not collapse after all under the weight of the joint intervention.

But today, even as Tehran seeks to dictate the terms of an eventual peace settlement, Akunis urged restraint before predicting an enemy victory less than six months into the war and just over a year after the 12-Day War during which Israel and the U.S. conducted strikes against Iran.

“You need patience,” Akunis said. “It’s almost 50 years of the ayatollahs’ regime in Iran. So, we are talking about one year since last June.”

He also expressed continued confidence in President Donald Trump, who has met with Netanyahu more than any foreign leader, their latest encounter last month marking their first since the beginning of their war against Iran.

At the same time, Akunis offered a piece of advice to the U.S. leader after he offered the Islamic Republic a “last chance,” calling off large-scale strikes last weekend to consider a new deal involving Iran and Oman that would reportedly grant Tehran a partial say over the vital Strait of Hormuz oil and gas trade chokepoint now at the center of the conflict.

“You need to be tough with them,” Akunis said. “Because if we, all of us, the Western society, will reflect weakness, they will attack. Why do I think so? Because they are saying it.”

But it’s those in the West who direct their outrage not toward Iran but Israel that he blames most.

“Those people do not say even one word about the ayatollahs, not even one word about their slogan ‘Death to America,’ and not even one word about the Iran massacre. What is it? Gaza, Gaza, Gaza, Gaza,” Akunis said. “OK, I can give you an answer about Gaza. Gaza can be like the Emirates, or Bahrain, or Singapore of the Middle East. No Hamas? Gaza can be prosperous. By the way, like in Lebanon. No Hezbollah? Lebanon can be prosperous.”

In fact, he said, “we have plans,” including the restoration of a historic “direct line between Beirut and Cairo through Haifa, through Tel Aviv, through Gaza to Egypt,” a distance he compared to the Boston-Washington train corridor and argued could be achieved in the Middle East as well if not for hostility toward Israel.

“Now, if they prefer the terror organizations, OK, I’m sorry for them, it’s very difficult that we will see the day that they will prefer our values or the American values or the Western world values,” Akunis said. “I don’t think that they need to prefer the Western world values, but they must stop encouraging the terror organizations, and cheering them, and to prefer them over their own life.”

He compared U.S. activists and politicians pushing such rhetoric to populations in Gaza and southern Lebanon who he said also, “prefer the terrorists rather than themselves, not only Israel.”

“So, if we will not see a massive change in the near future, the future of the Western world, and United States of America as the leader of the Western world and the free world, the next decade will be very bad.”

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Sam Wilson.