Former Israeli negotiator: ‘Greater Israel’ project must be stopped

Daniel Levy, a former member of Israel’s negotiation team during the Oslo accords, wrote in The Guardian that the “Greater Israel” project must be stopped. Levy noted that while the durability of the two-week ceasefire in the US-Israeli war on Iran remains uncertain, one thing is clear: “Donald Trump has no plan. Benjamin Netanyahu does.”

Netanyahu exploiting geopolitical fluidity

Levy argued that Netanyahu is using the fluid geopolitical environment created by the second Trump administration to pursue his ultimate goal of “Greater Israel.” He pointed out that before the Iran war, Israeli security experts argued that weakening the Iranian regime would make Israel the “dominant power in the region” — not only by collapsing Iran but also by weakening Gulf Cooperation Council states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE) and making them dependent on Israel for security and energy.

A dangerous expansionist vision

Levy noted that Netanyahu has recently begun describing Israel not just as a “regional” power but as “in some respects a global superpower.” While the “Greater Israel” project may appear as mere war rhetoric, Levy warned that recent policies show it must be taken seriously. “A permanent war approach is now firmly embedded in Israeli politics,” he wrote, warning of risks of overexpansion and backlash. He concluded that limiting and deterring this dominance project should be a top priority in the post-war period.