They both favour bizarre cosmetic makeup. Both face legal jeopardy at home and they both took part in an illegal attack on Iran. Like the “brother in arms” the Israeli leader likes to make the US president feel, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu appear to bicker like siblings.
This is an appearance. Not reality. The relationship between the two leaders has been closer to that of an agent and his handler. It has always been “Bibi” who’s done the handling, and it is always The Don who has been handled.
This has delivered unimagined benefits to Netanyahu who, with the help of Trump acting against the advice of his own bands of court loyalists, has reduced America to a protector of Israel.
In his latest and most venomous swipe at the Israeli prime minister, Trump has said he is “fucking crazy” because of Netanyahu’s apparent desire to apply the military doctrine used to flatten Gaza in Lebanon; a policy that will, without doubt, result in mass evacuation of civilians.
Trump has used vulgarity to describe his frustration with his fellow “wartime leader”, a term he loves to use, not because the destruction of Gaza has been immoral and provoked accusations of genocide against Israel.
He is angry because Israel’s war in Lebanon jeopardises the US president’s attempts to get out of the joint Israel-American campaign in Iran. Tehran’s leadership has refused ceasefire talks while Israel continues to bombard Lebanon and refused to reign in its proxy force there, Hezbollah.
Trump officials reportedly told the Axios news site that the US president had yelled at Netanyahu: “You’re f****** crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”
A counter-briefing from Israel pushed back on the accuracy of the reference to prison, but felt no need to remonstrate on the accusation of madness.
Netanyahu has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
In response, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on at least nine senior staff of the ICC and accused the international war crimes tribunal at the Hague of being a threat to national security.
In simple terms, Israel’s leader has been protected by Trump – no matter the international reputational damage.
It is the domestic courts that Trump is referring to though. Netanyahu is on trial on a range of corruption charges. His cross-examination has been frequently postponed because of the conflicts Israel is locked into. In apparently saying he has kept Netanyahu out of jail, Trump is admitting that the attack on Iran was a personal favour to the Israeli leader.
Netanyahu failed to get the previous administrations of George Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden – all supporters of Israel – to attack Iran. None were convinced by the Israeli claims that Tehran was “two weeks away” from developing a nuclear weapon or posed an existential threat.
Mysteriously, though, Trump went on to accept Netanyahu’s war plans in February without any idea of what “victory” there would look like.
Performative rage against Israel first emerged after the Hamas offices in Qatar were hit by rockets last September, prompting a public apology from Netanyahu.
“We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing, do you understand that?” he said of Israel and Iran. “I’m not happy with Israel.”
The latest outburst against “fucking crazy” Netanyahu is largely rhetorical.
There are only two other men in the world that mesmerize the US president in the same way. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. Whenever Trump meets them he appears to have been seduced into agreeing with their claims to Ukraine or Taiwan.
They have the appeal of being modern imperial figures. Proximity to their level of authoritarian power inspires Trump and he pursues the same in his own country.
Netanyahu’s hair is dyed a distracting shade of intense purple-blue. He wears a thick layer of foundation at all times to best appear on TV. So they share vanity.
But Netanyahu’s voice is deep and his background macho. He is a former special forces soldier and his brother, Yoni, a national war hero.
Standing with “Bibi” gives Trump an ego boost – manliness by association.
Netanyahu knows this. He also knew earlier this year when he sold the idea of war against Iran at the White House, that Trump knew he faced indictment if the Republican hold on Congress was broken in the November midterm elections.
War to end Iran’s nuclear programme, rescue Iranians from a theocracy and end Iran’s ability to threaten Israel could boost Trump’s standing in the polls – in theory. The fact that this was unlikely did not matter; it just needed to appeal to the victim of Netanyahu’s manipulations, Donald Trump.
In April, a Pew Research poll in the US found that 60 per cent of Americans had an unfavourable view of Israel – up 20 per cent in four years.
More details here...
