Channel 14 turns on Trump over Iran deal and Israel criticism

Channel 14, one of Benjamin Netanyahu’s most dependable media allies, has broken openly with Donald Trump over an emerging Iran memorandum that Israelis fear could constrain their military options in Lebanon and sideline the issues Jerusalem sees as most urgent. The sharpest attack came from anchor Tal Meir, who used her morning program to accuse Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff of turning their backs on Israel and called them “losers.”

The backlash lands at a delicate moment for Netanyahu, who has long treated his relationship with Trump as a political asset. This time, the agreement under discussion appears to begin with stopping the fighting and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, while leaving Iran’s nuclear program, ballistic missiles and support for regional proxies for later talks. Israeli outlets say the arrangement would also defer questions such as Iran’s enriched uranium stocks, precisely the issues Netanyahu and his allies regard as central.

Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel was not a party to the memorandum of understanding, but he also stressed that Israel would continue acting to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. That stance tries to preserve room for maneuver while avoiding a direct rupture with Trump, who has said the deal was “largely negotiated” and would be announced shortly, with the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened. Yet the tone in Jerusalem has hardened as the terms have become clearer.

Israeli officials were also unsettled by Trump’s criticism of Netanyahu over Israeli strikes in Beirut. Some said the reported understandings could sharply restrict Israel’s military freedom of action in Lebanon, especially if the U.S. and Iran are building a broader framework around de-escalation. A senior Israeli official said the expectation that Israel would not strike anywhere in Lebanon was incompatible with the behavior of a strategic ally. Trump also reportedly floated the idea of Israel physically withdrawing from southern Lebanon as part of the wider arrangement, a proposal Netanyahu rejected.

The clash exposes a wider fault line on the global right. For years, pro-Netanyahu media figures have treated Trump as a near-perfect partner on Israel. Now, as the Iran deal appears to postpone the missile and uranium questions that matter most to Israel, Channel 14’s most prominent voices are turning the argument into a nationalist test of loyalty, where U.S. diplomacy looks less like support and more like leverage over Israel’s freedom to act.