Before President Barack Obama took office in 2009, Benjamin Netanyahu called Israeli diplomat Aaron Piccus out of blue, seeking lessons from what is essentially a foreign language: the Democratic language.
According to Pinas, “I talk about Republicans, you talk about Democrats. He added: “Netanyahu always considered himself a neocon of pedigree that belongs to the Republican right wing.”
Netanyahu, who met with President Trump at the White House on Monday, was once again in conversation with his favorite party, and the differences were tough.
If former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. attempted to place some restrictions on Netanyahu's military campaign in Gaza, the Trump administration has not made such demands. If Biden criticized Netanyahu for attempting to overhaul Israeli courts, Trump made his own attack on the American judge.
“They are not tied up,” said Nathan Sachs, director of the Middle East Policy Center and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute's Foreign Policy Program. “There are many concerns that these concerns are no longer speaking up about the previous White House's humanitarian aid and limiting civilian casualties.”
It's a tension that comes close to this week's meeting. Trump's cleaning fees did not spare Israel. Netanyahu's office said the two men are planning to discuss tariff issues, the war in Gaza, Israeli-weed relations, Iran and the International Criminal Court.
“I can say that I am the first international leader and the first foreign leader to meet President Trump on an issue that is very important to the Israeli economy,” Netanyahu said of tariffs. “I have a long-standing leader who wants this when it comes to their economy. I think it reflects a special personal connection and a special relationship between the US and Israel.”
Biden and Netanyahu had long and complicated histories, but all recent American administrations have allied with Israel to varying degrees. Biden called the Israeli leader “a close and personal friend of over 33 years,” while Netanyahu called Biden a “Irish-American Zionist.”
Biden also criticised Israel's judicial overhaul and became annoyed by Netanyahu's inauguration. The US president then used the blasphemy about how Israel carried out the war in Gaza in response to Hamas' October 7th terrorist attack.
“The perception of Israel all over the world knows you're a rogue nation and a rogue actor,” Biden told Netanyahu after the airstrikes in Iran.
When Israel recently consulted the White House about air attacks across the Gaza Strip, there was a different response. A reaction from the Trump administration? Give him hell.
“The Trump administration and the White House have been consulted by Israelis about the attacks in Gaza,” White House spokesman Karolyn Leavitt added on Fox News:
Israeli airstrikes have ended a temporary ceasefire with Hamas that began in January, raising the prospect of a return to all-out war. More than 400 people, including children, were killed in the first few hours of the strike, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Netanyahu and Trump have discovered a common cause for their criticism of judges in their country. Trump has speeded up deportation, including promoting his wartime call to power against judges who blocked some of his administration's actions. As Netanyahu cheered him on, he called for one judge in particular to be fired each.
“In America and Israel, when strong right-wing leaders win elections, deep left states use their judicial systems to stop the will of the people,” Netanyahu wrote on social media. “They won't win either place! We stand strong together.”
Elliot Abrams, a senior fellow at Middle East Studies on the Council of Foreign Relations, simply said that he “has much more trusted on Israel's side in the Trump administration.”
“The vice president, the secretary of state, the national security adviser, they are all considered very pro-Israel,” said Abrams, who worked in foreign policy positions for three Republican presidents, including Trump. “And that wasn't the case with the Biden administration, which was considered sympathetic, but it was leaning towards restraining Israel.”
Certainly, Trump and Netanyahu have their ups and downs.
In Trump's first term, Netanyahu angered Trump with rather harmless acts of congratulating his successor, Biden, after the 2020 presidential election.
However, in Netanyahu's view, the first Trump presidency was a boon for Israel. The US President moved the US embassy to Jerusalem and paid little attention to the Palestinians while overseeing Israel's claims against Palestinian territory in the West Bank.
Then, shortly after taking office, Trump suggested that the US should seize control of Gaza and completely transform the Palestinians. He then moves a little further from the proposal.
However, his meditation on the mass removal of Palestinians came during a meeting with Netanyahu, who smiled through Trump's remarks and later praised him.
“You chased,” Netanyahu told Trump. “You see things that other people refuse to see. You say things that others refuse to say, and after the jaw drops, people scratch their heads and say, “You know, he's right.” ”
Many have accused Trump's proposal of immorality and illegal. However, polls showed that right-wing Israelis who make up Netanyahu's base were widely supported by the idea, and the US president was popular in Israel.
The fact that Netanyahu's base supports Trump gives him a unique domestic power for Israel and Hamas to negotiate hostages and release of the ceasefire, Sachs said.
“They're more afraid of Trump, and they think he's unpredictable,” Sachs said. “A direct talk with Hamas, this was done without Israeli knowledge. That's something a more iconoclasting president like Trump is willing to do, and Israel hates to surpass him.
Trump's Middle East envoy, Stephen Witkoff, is in talks about seeking a new ceasefire agreement. Netanyahu chose Ron Dahmer, a former Republican activist with close ties to Trump, to join the ceasefire talks.
Witkov sent a clear message to Hamas before the airstrikes began. “President Trump has made it clear that Hamas will either release the hostages immediately or pay a tough price.”
But Ned Lazarus, an associate professor of international affairs at George Washington University's Elliott School, said once the war is reinforced with Trump's blessings, the Trump administration will also begin to assume ownership of the war.
“Netanyahu has been in conflict with all of the multiple US presidents, but he clearly has much more friendly terms with Trump. He listens to what he says,” he said. “This is a war update. This is Trump's war.”
