Netanyahu speaks with President Donald Trump and UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamme
Netanyahu speaks with President Donald Trump and UAE Crown Prince Sheikh MohammeKoby Gideon (GPO)

We write to you as staunch supporters of your movement and as personal friends of many of you. We do so to express our disagreement with your reaction to the deal reached by Israel and the United Arab Emirates, under the auspices of the United States.

This is only the second time in over two decades that we disagree with an important position adopted by the National Camp. On both occasions our differences had to do with a decision made by Prime Minister Netanyahu, first under pressure from an adversarial American president and now at the request of a very friendly one.

As you are painfully aware, all Israeli prime ministers since the signing of the accord that recklessly resuscitated, empowered and armed the terrorist mastermind responsible for the death and mutilation of thousands of Israelis have either uprooted many Yesha residents or planned to do so (and thankfully failed).

Except for Netanyahu.

In 1998 he reluctantly agreed at the Wye River summit to withdraw from 13% of Area C (in three stages), of which 3% would be designated as natural reserves under Israeli security control. Most significantly, he succeeded in enshrining the crucial principle of reciprocity/parallelism. According to this principle, after the Israeli redeployment from the initial 2%, the other two stages would only take place if the Palestinian Arabs fulfilled their many and clearly spelled out security commitments - something they neither intended to do nor ever did.

Regrettably, the National Camp chose to ignore those significant provisos (as well as the fact that 74% of Israelis supported the Wye River agreement) and precipitated the collapse of the right-wing coalition. The result was the abandonment of reciprocity, the swift implementation of the other two redeployment stages, the offer to withdraw almost entirely from the territories and Arafat's terror war.

You undoubtedly agree with Netanyahu's statement that President Trump is "the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House." He withdrew the United States from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal and applied maximum pressure on Iran; that alone would have been dayenu. But he went much further: he moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Israel's sovereignty over the Golan and agreed that Israel's permanent eastern border should be the Jordan Valley. What is more, he denied that "Israeli civilian settlements" in Judea and Samaria violate international law and agreed with Netanyahu's position that not a single Jewish resident there should be expelled from his or her home.

Nevertheless when, in the midst of a tough reelection campaign and after securing from the Emirates a full normalization of diplomatic relations with Israel, President Trump requested that Israel "suspend declaring sovereignty over areas outlined in [his] Vision for Peace," most of you bitterly criticized Netanyahu for returning a favor to a great and generous friend. That was an ungrateful response.

You stated that the prime minister "missed a historic opportunity to extend sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria," as if that historic opportunity had not been created precisely by an apparent green light from the president - which he had decided to turn yellow for the time being. That was an illogical criticism.

77% of Israelis support normalization with the Emirates over the extension of sovereignty at present. You also risked displeasing a proud and reliable friend that may be sitting in the Oval Office for another four years, from whom Israel could normally expect additional displays of support. That was unwise.

President Trump has delivered much more to Israel than he had promised four years ago. It is incumbent on the National Camp to extend to him one of the values and virtues of Judaism: Hakarat HaTov. At the very least, he deserves a very hearty Yasher Koach.

Friends, it behooves us to learn from the past and be grateful, logical and wise. Thank you for your outstanding work and accomplishments, and let us hope that a truly historic opportunity will arise in the near future.

Julio Messer and Gerald Platt are past and current presidents of American Friends of Likud, respectively.