total-- : --time0:0011:21 AM • June 16 2026 IDTIsrael is in a strategically weakened position – and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will take a hard political hit if reports on the details of U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding are accurate, Haaretz columnist Joshua Leifer said on the Haaretz Podcast.Netanyahu had been "riding high," planning to face Israel's upcoming elections in the fall having compensated for his failures that led to October 7 by boldly "reconfiguring the map of the Middle East, and disassembling Iran's proxy network of Hezbollah and Hamas, and taking on the Iranian regime itself," Leifer said.The Israeli leader thought "his legacy [would] be rehabilitated by those wars. Fast forward to where we are now, and that's not the case, and he's having to confront that," Leifer added."Strategically, Israel's in a terrible place, where the Iranian regime is stronger than it was, and it is now able to enforce a new kind of equation where Israeli freedom of movement is limited by the potential threat of ballistic missiles from Iran – which wasn't the case prior to October 7."Netanyahu, Leifer said, has been "backed into a corner" on all of Israel's fronts – Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and now Iran. He must follow Trump's dictates and has turned Israel into "a total vassal state of the U.S." and "Trump's lapdog." If he were to defy Trump, he runs the risk of losing American support, which could endanger the country even more.In the NewsTrump Made a Deal With Iran. What Will Netanyahu Do?Some Jewish Knicks Fans Say Date of Historic Win Is No CoincidenceAny Israeli Strike on Lebanon Violates U.S. Agreement, Tehran SaysFallen Standing Stone Built Into Later House May Show King Hezekiah ReformFormer Supreme Court Justice Joins Petition Against State Watchdog AppointmentRemembering and rebuilding two years laterICYMIHumiliated by Trump on the Iran Front, Netanyahu May Set the Middle East AblazeTrump Just Dropped a Megaton Bomb on Netanyahu's Re-election CampaignWhy Does the Jewish State Keep Deporting Diaspora Jews?The Fake Gaza Charity Linked to the Anti-left Disinformation Campaign in France'Once-in-a-lifetime Discovery': 1,700-year-old Roman Busts Found in IsraelIran Reportedly Calls Off Missile Strikes on Israel After Trump Intervenes