'U.S. Protectorate': Why Steve Bannon's Scathing Comment Has Got Under Netanyahu's Skin - Israel News
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tends to stick to a very particular vocabulary when discussing Israel's foreign relations, especially the strategic partnership with the United States. He likes words that convey strength and independence, while also emphasizing the support and benefits that Israel receives.
All this, of course, comes thanks to his leadership and decision-making, which in his version of the world are the only explanation for every good thing that ever happens to Israel.
One word I've never heard Netanyahu use in more than a decade of covering him is "protectorate," which appeared this week in a statement from his office shortly before his meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance in Jerusalem. "We are not an American protectorate," he said. I checked the history and found very few examples of Netanyahu using this word in English, none of them similar to its usage this time.
Netanyahu spoke in 2013 about Iranian protectorates in the Middle East, and in 2022 he accused Yair Lapid's government of "acting like a protectorate state," both times in speeches in Hebrew. There's no precedent of him publicly using this word in English in the context of the U.S.-Israel relationship, certainly not in the lead-up to a crucial meeting with an American vice president.
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What caused Netanyahu to utter this word at this sensitive time? One possible reason is domestic politics – the Israeli media has covered the Gaza cease-fire agreement largely as Donald Trump's diplomatic achievement that the U.S. president had to impose on Netanyahu and the extremists in his government.
Recent statements by senior American officials, notably the "60 Minutes" interviews of Trump's close advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, reinforced that view, which according to opinion polls is shared by most Israelis.
This presents a problem for Netanyahu, who looks weak compared to Trump and is seen by Israelis as someone being dragged along, not leading. On top of that came the string of high-level U.S. visits to Israel this week and the perception that Vance, Kushner, Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are all here to "Bibi-sit" and limit the prime minister's range of action in Gaza.
This implies two things – first, that the Americans don't trust Netanyahu, and worse for him, that they have the power to force his hand. Both things directly contradict the public image Netanyahu tries to curate: someone who has Trump's full trust and can easily manipulate the American president to achieve his own goals.
But in the background is a phenomenon that Netanyahu has viewed as a threat to his hold on power in recent months: the growing criticism of him, and of Israel as a country, in parts of the American right and in the MAGA movement. This sharp turn against Israel is led by right-wing influencers like Tucker Carlson (who has gone even further recently, dabbling in antisemitic conspiracy theories related to COVID), and Steve Bannon, who has an audience of millions and a history of close personal relations with Trump.
We already know that Netanyahu is disturbed by this trend because of his unusual efforts to respond to the lunatic conspiracy theory that Israel had something to do with the assassination of Charlie Kirk. This "theory" is so deranged that it doesn't even deserve a response, which could only elevate it and make it part of an actual discussion. Yet Netanyahu found it so harmful that he personally responded and denied it, more than once, in statements and interviews.
Over the past decade and a half, Netanyahu has systematically burned all of Israel's bridges to the Democratic Party – humiliating and insulting two Democratic presidents, alienating the liberal majority of American Jews, and even turning lifelong pro-Israel Democratic lawmakers into constant critics of his extremist government. Netanyahu has contributed more than anyone to Israel's evolution from being a beneficiary of a bipartisan consensus to becoming an issue like guns and abortion that separates the two parties.
This was always a dangerous gamble, but for a while, Israel enjoyed such unanimous support among Republicans that Netanyahu could claim it was worth the risk of losing everything once the next generation of Democrats took power. But in recent months, even this strategy has been unraveling, as influential MAGA figures like Carlson, Bannon and former Congressman Matt Gaetz use their platforms to hit Netanyahu where it hurts most: among Republicans and Trump fans.
Bannon specifically seems to have gotten under Netanyahu's skin with his constant use of the word "protectorate" – Israel as America's vassal state –to describe what he views as the true nature of the U.S.-Israel relationship. Bannon has used the word again and again in recent months, most notably in diatribes against Netanyahu related to the 12-day war on Iran, the Israeli strike on Hamas' leaders in Qatar, and now the agreement to end the Gaza war.
His line about Israel under Netanyahu – that "it's not an ally, it's a protectorate" – carries great dangers for the future of the two countries' special relationship if more Americans come to believe it. Netanyahu is trying to fight back against this line of attack, but he's doing it from a tough position. If he loses Trump and the MAGA movement, he has nowhere else to go.
The Democratic Party is today divided between rising forces that generally hold a negative view of Israel, and others who still support Israel but don't want anything to do with Netanyahu. He can't afford any losses on the Republican side, because it's everything he has.
That's why Bannon's "protectorate" argument is a problem – one that Netanyahu chose to reply to using Bannon's language.