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Nadav Tamir

A dramatic meeting for our future

Netanyahu boarded a plane on Sunday, knowing he might be soon meeting his fate—at least his political one. He had longed for the moment he would be invited to meet President Trump at the White House. Throughout the presidential election campaign, there was never any doubt about what Netanyahu and his partners were hoping for and on whom they were placing all their political bets, and indeed their wish came true. President Trump entered the White House for a second term, and Netanyahu now has the honor of being the first foreign leader invited back to the White House by the new-old president.

Unlike Biden, Trump will not reprimand Netanyahu for advancing the regime coup, but he is the one who could bring it to a halt. Because behind the warm handshake lies the unequivocal demand to move towards regional normalization. And whether Trump realizes it or not, that not only means ending the war and returning all the hostages. Regional normalization also depends on a horizon—albeit still somewhat blurred—for the establishment of a Palestinian state. It is hard to see this being implemented with the current coalition in place.

Just as he did in the previous term, when he was the one who forced Netanyahu to give up the annexation fantasy to which he was led by his coalition partners, this time too, Trump may offer Netanyahu a convenient ladder to climb down from the “total victory” tree. 

The formula comprises five key ingredients: an end to the war; a transformed Palestinian Authority returning to Gaza; leaving room for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the future; normalization with Saudi Arabia; full integration of Israel into the region; and a Sunni-Israeli axis against Iranian aggression.

The settler right’s support for Trump might meet the reality of a president who is less interested in Greater Israel than in closing deals. Those who hoped for a president who would facilitate annexation might well find a president willing to offer them small treats, like lifting restrictions on far-right activists, but demanding they give up their dreams of occupation in exchange for the fulfillment of his dreams of a Nobel Prize. And now Netanyahu stands before the choice of preserving and strengthening the alliance with Trump or returning to the “bear hug” of Smotrich and Ben Gvir.

There is a good chance that Netanyahu will leave the meeting in the White House as someone who will have to make his last significant decision, refuse Trump and find himself in the crosshairs of an unrestrained president, go to elections at a time when his situation has never been worse, or engage the opposition in a move that will bring about the return of all the hostages, regional normalization, and the cessation of the regime coup. Despite all the bad blood, Lapid and Gantz will find it difficult to be the ones preventing Israel from breaking free from the grip of the messianic right.

Netanyahu can either be remembered as the most unsuccessful Prime Minister in Israel’s history, during whose tenure the country suffered its worst disaster since independence, alongside an irreparable rift among its citizens, or as someone who is capable of rising from the ashes to accomplish the most significant diplomatic achievement since the signing of the peace agreements with Egypt. This may be Netanyahu’s last move as Prime Minister, but it will be one that determines the fate of his legacy. Will it be a legacy of failure and division, or a legacy of a leader who, at the very last moment, gathered himself together and led the State of Israel from the horror of war towards the beginning of building a future of peace?

About the Author
Nadav Tamir is the executive director of J Street Israel, a member of the board of the Mitvim think-tank, adviser for international affairs at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, and member of the steering committee of the Geneva Initiative. He was an adviser of President Shimon Peres and served in the Israel embassy in Washington and as consul general to New England.