Repeatedly deferring to Trump, Netanyahu subjects Israeli security to US president’s whim |
On June 18, 2021, Benjamin Netanyahu walked to the podium of the Knesset.
He was in an unfamiliar position, one that he hadn’t been in for over a decade — the loser of a national election.
Suddenly the outgoing prime minister, Netanyahu delivered a 30-minute address in which he bitterly lambasted his successor Naftali Bennett and vowed to return to power quickly.
He also boasted of his willingness to stand up to then-US president Joe Biden on Iran, arguing that the incoming government wouldn’t have the courage to follow his lead.
“If I have to choose between tension between us and eliminating the existential threat to Israel, then eliminating the threat takes precedence,” he said. “An Israeli prime minister must be able to say ‘No’ to the president of the United States on matters that endanger our existence.”
It was a reasonable statement, and one that almost every Israeli would agree with.
A year and a half later, Netanyahu returned to power, and indeed showed himself capable of standing up to Biden, especially around the war against Hamas in Gaza.
But once Donald Trump reclaimed his old Oval Office perch, the same Netanyahu who had crowed about his willingness to stand up to the White House seemed to make the strategic decision to acquiesce to the US president’s demands, whatever they are.
It made sense in many ways. Besides the fact that Trump famously expects loyalty and is willing to exact revenge on those he sees as crossing him, an airtight partnership had much to offer.
In his first term, Trump handed Israel unprecedented diplomatic wins — moving the embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, pulling out of hostile international bodies, and much more.
In his second term, the partnership with Trump has reaped important benefits for Israel and for Netanyahu personally. Hamas released all the hostages, and the world at least expects the terror group to follow a plan that would see it disarm. Trump overturned Biden’s restrictions on weapons shipments to Israel. He invited Netanyahu repeatedly to Washington and Mar-a-Lago, and came to Jerusalem to address the Knesset the day the last living hostages were released.
In June, Trump eventually joined Israel’s military campaign against Iran, giving Israel the firepower it needed to reach deeply buried nuclear sites and then declaring the war over. And then in February, he took the unprecedented step of partnering the US with Israel in the launch of a new round of fighting against the Islamic Republic.
Yet that has come with a significant price tag. Throughout, Trump has expected Netanyahu to get in line with his plans, and the prime minister has done so.
Before he was even elected, Trump was pushing Netanyahu for a truce in Gaza and talks on ending the war. After a “tense” meeting with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff days before Trump entered office in January, Netanyahu gave the soon-to-be US president the ceasefire he sought.
Trump, along with Qatar, also engineered the end of Israel’s June 2025 campaign against Iran. After Trump had the US join in........