The reassuring hand from the White House has not reached out to Netanyahu, precisely at a time when he needs it most: a presidential blessing, a Trumpian pat on the back, some gesture that would allow Israel's prime minister to stand on the world stage as he so desperately wishes to be seen, a leader in a league of his own, rather than a pariah the world recoils from.
Donald Trump has turned his back on Netanyahu with startling abruptness, not merely because he despises losers, but above all because he has had enough of the scheming of the man in Jerusalem, whom he believes deceived him. Netanyahu promised him the moon: the defeat of Iran, the overthrow of the ayatollahs' regime, quick knockout wars on every front and full cooperation with the fantasies of turning Gaza into a Riviera.
Trump at a US midterm election campaign rally in Texas on Wednesday
(Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by WIN MCNAMEE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
People close to Trump say the president is furious with the prime minister for failing to bring the war in Gaza to an end in time, thwarting his ambitions to expand the Abraham Accords, claim the credit and cement his legacy as a peacemaker. Trump is known to say one thing in the morning and the exact opposite later in the day. There are still enough days before Israel's election for him to change his mind. But for now, Trump is not betting on Bibi, and all the pleading and manipulation coming out of Jerusalem have failed to do the trick.
Netanyahu has lost Trump, and Israel has lost America. The line to Washington went dead a long time ago.
After October 7, when the world was horrified and largely sympathetic toward Israel, Netanyahu could have changed the course of events. Had he stopped, brought the hostages home and pursued the agreement that was on the table, the tide might have turned in Israel's favor. Wars must end in political settlements, not with the sword forever drawn. Instead, wars fought with neither wisdom nor strategic cunning have brought US-Israel relations crashing down. And the situation will only deteriorate further after the midterm elections, when polls suggest a Democratic blue wave could sweep through Congress.
American sympathy has now shifted toward the Palestinians. Their narrative is easier to understand and digest. At demonstrations in solidarity with the Palestinian cause, which continue across the United States, protesters quote from the autobiography of Leila Khaled, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who took part in an aircraft hijacking. She wrote: "We shall have power and we shall recover Palestine and make it a human paradise for Arabs and Jews and lovers of freedom."
These are the messages echoing through most of the demonstrations. For the American public, it is easier to identify with such messages, even when they come from a former terrorist, than with Israeli battle cries about crushing, erasing and starving, with what the world sees as genocide in Gaza and with the brutal abuse of Palestinians in the West Bank.
Trump failed Israel twice: He could have saved Israel from itself, by force if necessary, had he pursued a policy of imposed peace. But he made little effort to do so
Trump failed Israel twice. He could have saved Israel from itself, by force if necessary, had he pursued a policy of imposed peace. But he made little effort to do so, because a peaceful Middle East leaves no testing grounds for America's defense industries, which make vast sums of money as long as the flames keep rising into the sky.
On the other hand, he also failed to deliver on his promises to remove Iran's uranium and establish a new regional order. No expanded Abraham Accords, no deal of the century between Israel and the Palestinians, as he had sworn he would achieve. He was no friend of Israel. And perhaps now, not necessarily through any great awareness or careful planning, his decision to turn his back on Netanyahu will prove to be his one noble act: saving Israel from the hands of a prime minister who has led it from colossal disgrace to catastrophe. It will not save relations between the United States and Israel. But it may still offer the faintest glimmer of hope.