Even Trump understood: Netanyahu is not Israel

Netanyahu’s decision to remain silent in the face of the public humiliation he suffered at the hands of President Trump was the only reason his visit to the White House did not develop into a shouting match, unlike the visit of Ukrainian President Zelensky. As someone who has spent decades working to thwart any diplomatic dialogue with Iran, Netanyahu was confronted in the Oval Office with a fait accompli in the form of the opening of talks between the United States and Iran and was required to nod in forced agreement.

Despite the compliments he expressed, what observers saw in that meeting was a public message from Trump to Netanyahu that he is immaterial to his thinking. Trump started with the news about negotiations with Iran, continued with praise for Turkish President Erdogan, and no less negatively from Netanyahu’s perspective, spoke at length about the situation of the hostages, those that Netanyahu incessantly tries to remove from the agenda.

As usual, the narcissistic Trump also praised himself by reiterating “I am the best President that Israel has ever had.” And hence, in the blink of an eye, Trump instituted the much-needed distinction between the State of Israel and its current leader. He clearly implied that what is good for Israel does not necessarily mean what is good for Netanyahu. Netanyahu, who has often said that Trump is the best President for Israel, and who ignored with his characteristic ingratitude the massive aid that President Biden extended to Israel in its time of need, could not oppose this distinction lest he be seen as confronting Trump, as Zelensky did.

What Netanyahu fears the most is the entrenchment of the contrast between him and the State of Israel. For years, as someone who has viewed himself as King Louis the 14^th, Netanyahu has been trying to entrench the connection between him and the state, a connection that has served as an excuse for everything in his eyes – for his indulgence, for harming the gatekeepers and even for fighting the international extradition order against him. Time and again, he has tried to identify himself with the state and vice versa, and all of a sudden, President Trump of all people bursts Bibi’s “I am the State” balloon in one fell swoop.

Sometimes it takes a child to shout out that the emperor has no clothes. In this case, the call has not come from a child, but from the President of the United States, who is indeed childish, but the message he conveyed to the whole world was accurate: being good for Israel does not at all mean listening to Netanyahu, and often it means the opposite.

It is not easy to admit that someone as devoid of humanistic values as Trump is correct, but it is now worth noting for those who have not yet realized it that the Prime Minister of Israel often acts in ways that contradict the interests of its citizens. Driven by his own personal and political considerations, Netanyahu is promoting a policy of endless war that serves his government at the expense of the security of Israeli citizens, at the expense of the freedom of the hostages, and perhaps even at the expense of their lives. For exactly the same reasons, which erode the foundations upon which the State of Israel is built, he is destroying Israeli democracy and fighting the gatekeepers to extricate himself and his associates from prison sentences.

Trump proved this week that he has learned the lesson, and it can only be hoped that he will continue to adhere to this approach. It is now the turn of Jewish organizations in the United States and around the world, and many others in the international community who see themselves as true friends of Israel, to understand that Israel is being led by a person whose path is contrary to the state’s path, diverting it from the course that reflects its most basic interests, and thus jeopardizing it with immediate and significant imperilment.

True support for the citizens of the state by no means corresponds to support for Netanyahu, but rather opposition to him and his path. Support for Israel demands strengthening the alternatives to Netanyahu’s policies regarding Iran, regarding the end of the war and the return of the captives, and regarding the promotion of a Palestinian alternative to Hamas rule in Gaza as a basis for a comprehensive political settlement based on the implementation of the two-state solution. All these goals run directly contrary to the direction in which Netanyahu is leading.

The polls show that an overwhelming majority of Israeli citizens understand how harmful Netanyahu is to them and their country. The time has now come for supporters of Israel around the world to stand with the citizens and no longer with a corrupt leader who has turned the country into a tool for his personal interests and those of his family.