U.S. direct talks with Hamas prove Israel must grow up.

American negotiations with Hamas, unprecedented in nature, should infuriate Israelis. But more than that, they should inspire us to rethink what real independence means.

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By now, it should be clear to anyone paying attention: The world is changing.

The latest demonstration of this is that United States has been directly talking to Hamas, led by U.S. President Donald Trump’s hostage envoy Adam Boehler, in Qatar.

The negotiations — unprecedented in nature — have largely been focused on securing the release of American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander, along with the dead bodies of American-Israelis Itay Chen, Omer Neutra, Gadi Haggai, and Judi Weinstein.

Israel was not fully briefed on the talks ahead of time.

The talks signaled a departure from a decades-long U.S. policy of not negotiating with Hamas, which Washington and many Western countries list as a terrorist organization.

If this moment feels like déjà vu, it’s because it is. This is hardly the first time Washington has empowered Israel’s enemies, while claiming to have Israel’s best interests at heart.

It happened when the U.S. pushed Israel into the 1990s Oslo Accords, giving then-Palestinian mega-terrorist Yasser Arafat and his cronies international legitimacy — and weapons. During the 1990s, then-U.S. President Bill Clinton’s administration invited Arafat to the White House 13 times, more times than any other foreign visitor during Clinton’s eight years at the helm.

By then, Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, was profusely corrupt, using public funds for his own purposes, which ranged from financing an expensive lifestyle in Paris for his wife, to buying and retaining the support of Palestinian politicians, to funding 13 so-called “security” organizations — which Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon used to call “security-terror organizations.”

Since the signing of the Oslo Accords, the Palestinians had 12 governments. Each government had at least 24 ministers, totaling 228 ministers to “serve” a population of a couple million people. For comparison, Israel has 37 ministers for a country with nine million people.

But Clinton’s obsession with solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict only encouraged even more Palestinian corruption, while signaling to the Palestinians who were disgusted with public corruption that the Americans were neither interested in nor planning to hold Arafat accountable.

It happened again in 2006 when the U.S. pressured Israel to allow Hamas to participate in Palestinian “elections,” despite clear warnings that Hamas would win and turn Gaza into a jihadist terror fortress.

In 2014, then-U.S. President Barack Obama even got behind Hamas’ right to exist and keep its arsenal intact during another war that the terror group provoked with Israel that year.¹ More curiously, Obama subsequently sent his Secretary of State, John Kerry, off to cavort with the Qatari and Turkish foreign ministers in Paris — which incensed Israeli ministers, the Egyptians, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the time.

It happened yet again with the Iran nuclear deal signed under Obama, where America and its allies poured billions into the Iranian economy, money that was promptly funneled to Hezbollah, the Houthis, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Hamas.

Of course, many in the crowd will point to the “record-breaking” $38-billion military aid package for Israel that Obama signed into effect in 2016 before he left the White House. But what they don’t know (or won’t tell you) is that all U.S. military aid to Israel — other than loan guarantees — is comprised of credits that flow directly from the Pentagon to U.S. weapons manufacturers.

In return, this U.S. aid undermines Israel’s domestic defense industry, weakens its economy, and compromises the country’s autonomy — giving Washington, D.C. serious leverage over Israel’s diplomatic and military strategies, which is what we have been witnessing on full display since October 7th.

This isn’t always done out of malice. Sometimes, American administrations truly believe they are helping “stabilize” the region by pressuring Israel to make concessions, or by appeasing Palestinian factions to avoid wider conflicts.

But whatever the intent, the result is the same: Israel’s enemies grow stronger, more emboldened, and more legitimized on the world stage — with American fingerprints all over it.

This isn’t a reason to turn America into an enemy. Far from it. It’s a reason to recognize that America’s interests and Israel’s interests are not identical. They never were. And that’s okay — as long as Israel finally learns to act in its own interests, without pining for American permission.

For now, the worry should not be that America suddenly trusts Hamas, or that Washington believes Hamas will immediately abandon its Islamist fanaticism, but because American interests — not Israeli interests — are the driving force. That’s what nations do. They look out for themselves.

Israelis must finally understand that the same rule applies to us.

For decades, Israel has relied on the U.S. as its ultimate backstop — militarily, diplomatically, and even psychologically. American vetoes at the United Nations, U.S. arms shipments during wartime, and constant coordination have been the pillars of Israeli strategy.

But this dependency has made Israel lazy and Israeli leaders fearful of making bold moves without first asking, “What will Washington say?”

That era must end.

The world order that allowed Israel to thrive under America’s protective umbrella is changing. The U.S. is exhausted from the Middle East, consumed by China, and politically fractured at home. Global power is becoming multipolar, with rising powers like China and India, a resurgent and cynical Russia, and an unpredictable Europe each playing their own game. In this new reality, Israel cannot afford to be anyone’s dependent — not even America’s.

Direct U.S.-Hamas talks are a slap in the face, but they are also a wake-up call. They prove that Israel’s interests will never be fully aligned with America’s — no matter how deep the friendship. It’s not betrayal; it’s realpolitik. And the only way for Israel to protect itself, on its own terms, is to generate its own leverage.

That means building economic, technological, and military power that is not contingent on American approval. It means investing heavily in regional alliances — with countries like India, Greece, the United Arab Emirates, and even Saudi Arabia — to create diplomatic alternatives to the U.S. veto. It means shaping a defense industry that is fully self-sufficient, so that when the next war comes, we don’t wait for a shipment of American bombs that may or may not arrive on time.

Israel has a ton to offer to many countries who see the value in it. If we stop acting like we need America’s constant approval, we will realize something powerful: Plenty of nations want to work with Israel — not as a charity case, but as a strategic partner.

Israel has the world’s most advanced military technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, water and agricultural solutions, and medical innovation. These assets are gold in a world where security threats are rising, food and water crises are worsening, and digital warfare is the new battlefield.

Look at the nations already lining up. India sees Israel as a critical defense and tech partner. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain didn’t sign the Abraham Accords out of love for Zionism; they did it because Israeli security technology helps them counter Iran, and Israeli business opportunities help diversify their economies. Greece and Cyprus are deepening military ties with Israel because they know Jerusalem is the only country in the region with the capability and will to counter Turkish aggression.

Even beyond traditional alliances, Israel has massive untapped potential. Latin America, facing rising crime and instability, needs Israeli security expertise. Africa, dealing with water shortages and agricultural challenges, can benefit from Israeli innovation. Asian tech hubs, from South Korea to Singapore, recognize Israel as a powerhouse in artificial intelligence and defense systems.

Plus, after witnessing how Israel has systematically eliminated Hamas and Hezbollah’s leadership, and even the Iranian president and foreign minister², since October 7th — as well as the unfathomable pager operation that killed or injured 3,000 Hezbollah operatives — no sane person would want to get on Israel’s bad side.

So, instead of constantly looking over its shoulder to see what Washington thinks, Israel should be aggressively building these global partnerships — on its own terms. Not just to hedge against a turbulent America, but because the world needs what Israel has to offer. The countries that recognize Israel’s unique value propositions are the ones Israelis should prioritize, understanding it is a mutually beneficial relationship that no one should take for granted.

Most of all, it means unshackling Israeli decision-making from American permission. Israel should decide — for itself — how to handle Gaza, Hezbollah, Iran, and the Palestinians. Not based on what the U.S. State Department will tolerate, but based on what Israeli security and national interests demand.

This doesn’t mean abandoning the U.S.-Israel relationship. That bond, built over decades, remains strategically and emotionally important. But it does mean growing up. It means understanding that alliances are not marriages. They are transactions. And in a transactional world, the country that stands tall is the one that can walk away from the table — because it has the strength to stand on its own.

U.S. negotiations with Hamas should infuriate Israelis. But more than that, they should inspire us to rethink what real independence means.

A mature Israel is an Israel that doesn’t beg, doesn’t cling, and doesn’t wait for permission. It acts — because it can.

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1. “Obama: Intervening to Save Hamas?” Commentary.

2. A senior Iranian official said that Tehran was involved in purchasing the pagers held by Hezbollah operatives — hinting that such a device could have been responsible for the helicopter crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in May 2024.