Who Will Bibi Endorse?

There has been speculation that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to endorse Donald Trump or at least would like to see him become the next president.

That's what former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a close Trump advisor, reported after meeting with the prime minister and other top officials on his recent trip to Israel.

The PMs office quickly announced that he's not taking sides in this election. That sounds reasonable. Netanyahu by now has figured out that Trump is a loser. He backed a loser four years ago and did great damage to U.S.-Israel relations that is still causing pain. 

Many of Netanyahu's colleagues and critics say his mishandling of the 2012 election and, especially, his decision to lead the Republican opposition to Barack Obama's Iran nuclear agreement possibly cost Israel billions in aid in the negotiation of a new 10-year security assistance package.

It may have taken Netanyahu a while to get the point, but he appears to have it now and doesn't want to make the same stupid and costly mistakes twice.

All the polls show Hillary Clinton is very likely to be the next president and could get up to 90 percent of the Jewish vote. Another Netanyahu assault on a Democratic president is sure to do more damage to already diminishing support among Democrats and younger and progressive American Jews.

As he watches Trump stumble, Netanyahu will want to avoid doing more damage to the alliance by getting off on the wrong foot with President Hillary Clinton.