As if to say to the United States that it has no control over Israel whatsoever, West Jerusalem is continuing to pound Lebanon. The strikes come in spite of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not signed the MoU.

This begs the question: Should Israel be tied to whatever the US does? Or is it its own sovereign state? It seems to be proving the latter as Trump signs what amounted to a surrender deal with Iran, and the American public is sold a victory they all know is actually a defeat.

The First Secretary of War Loses A War

Because of Israel’s continued strikes, US-Iran negotiations that were scheduled to take place in Switzerland on Friday have been postponed, only one day after the signing of an MoU outlining a roadmap toward peace.

Israel said it will not comply with the obligations forced on it by the US, and in reality, has no real reason to do so.

The White House announced that Vice President J.D. Vance would not travel to Europe on Friday for the Qatar- and Pakistan-mediated talks, saying “the logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable.” The Swiss Foreign Ministry confirmed that the meeting had been delayed, adding that preparatory work was ongoing. -RT

Vance criticized Israel, saying it can’t just kill its way out of situations.“You’re a country of nine million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.” Vance also warned Israel against criticizing Trump, as he’s one of West Jerusalem’s few remaining supporters.

Netanyahu, however, never signed the agreement that the US insists he obey and has insisted that Israeli troops will remain in southern Lebanon for as long as Israel deems necessary. “We will restore security to the north,” he said on Thursday, arguing that this required maintaining a “security strip” in southern Lebanon.

Iran is going to hold the US responsible if Israel continues to strike Lebanon. “If the Israeli regime’s attacks on Lebanon continue, it will be considered a violation of the other party’s commitments under the memorandum of understanding,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said, insisting that Tehran does not separate the US from Israel when it comes to implementing the agreement.

This is also a fair stance, considering the US and Israel started this war jointly attacking Iran on February 28th.