Diplomacy is rightly celebrated when it prevents war. Yet for nations living under the shadow of a potential existential threat, the prospect of negotiations may produce not reassurance but profound anxiety.

This is the paradox confronting Israel—and, to varying degrees, several Gulf states—as the United States pursues negotiations with Iran. For Washington, diplomacy is an instrument of foreign policy. For Israel, it is a question of survival: can diplomacy reliably prevent the Iranian regime, which has repeatedly called for Israel’s destruction, from acquiring the ultimate means to realize that objective?

The distinction is not political. It is existential.

Geography shapes diplomacy. The United States negotiates from the security of distance, protected by unmatched strategic depth. Israel lives within missile range of Iran and its regional proxies. The same agreement is therefore viewed through fundamentally different strategic lenses. What may appear to Washington as an acceptable diplomatic risk may appear to Jerusalem as an unacceptable existential gamble.

An American administration understandably seeks to reduce regional tensions, avoid another Middle Eastern war, and achieve a diplomatic breakthrough. Israel seeks something more fundamental: confidence that diplomacy will not merely postpone an........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)