What Trump and Netanyahu Have in Common
And will it work for them both.
Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump are scheduled to meet in Washington on Tuesday. It will be the eighth time since Trump returned to the White House that Netanyahu has dropped by. Between those visits and frequent phone calls, Netanyahu has probably spent more time talking to Trump in the last year and a half than he has with his wife.
While they seem to have a close relationship, one still has to wonder why there are so many get-togethers? The reason may be that they have so much in common.
According to Netanyahu, the top item on the agenda for this meeting is the war with Iran. They both thought it was a swell idea to start it, but now they are both desperate to end it victoriously. The problem is they view the ideal outcome very differently.
A victory for Netanyahu means regime change and an end to Iran’s nuclear ambitions and threats against Israel. For Trump it means an end to the fighting, and high gasoline prices, regardless of whatever else ensues. If the world is left with an emboldened Iran with even more radical leadership that retains a path to weapons grade nuclear material and dominance over the Strait of Hormuz, that’s o.k. All that matters is Trump being able to spin the deal as a win.
The desire for different ends to the war arises from their domestic political situations, despite some similarities. They are alike in that both are unpopular leaders who are facing crucial elections this fall. And both will do anything to prevent a mere election from robbing them of their power.
For Netanyahu though, keeping the war going is essential for avoiding being held to account for the terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023. He is also letting the settlers on the West Bank attack Palestinians at will with the hope it will provoke a violent reaction from them. At that point he will say to Jewish Israelis, “See, I’m the only one who can keep you safe.”
The transparency of this ploy was demonstrated in an article from the Times of Israel which noted “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed at a cabinet meeting on Sunday to expand operations against Palestinian ‘terrorist strongholds’ in the West Bank, after a deadly Friday shootout sparked when settlers illegally entered a Nablus-area village.” So, when so-called settlers enter a Palestinian village to commit acts of violence, and those being attacked try to protect themselves, they are terrorists and not the Israelis?
The Times also reported hundreds of retired Israeli Defense Forces generals and colonels wrote an open letter to Trump urging him to convince Netanyahu to “crack down on violence against Palestinians by settlers in the West Bank.” Trump probably won’t mention it and even if he did Netanyahu will ignore him.
Both Trump and Netanyahu face bleak electoral prospects if they are unable to use the Iran war and other threats as positive talking points, no matter what the cost. It is a key part of their strategy to motivate their voters by appeals to hate and fear.
Israeli governments have always been a result of a coalition formed between some of the country’s many political parties. Netanyahu is in power thanks to the support of religious extremists and far-right Jewish supremacists. He is therefore telling voters that they should vote against anyone who would have Israeli Arabs as part of their coalition, even though they are twenty percent of the electorate.
And he is delivering that message in a way that has even shocked Israelis, who are not often known for their subtlety. The Jewish newspaper the Forward reported on an AI generated campaign ad for Netanyahu that “depicts former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, who has become the standard-bearer for the opposition, walking through a sunlit field toward a young Jewish man before passing him by to embrace Mansour Abbas of Ra’am, the United Arab List, instead. The young man looks strikingly like Eisenkot’s son, Gal, who was killed fighting in Gaza in late 2023.”
And Netanyahu, never one to let hypocrisy stifle his rhetoric, claimed recently that New York City Mayor Zohran Mandani was fomenting hate. While Trump’s campaign message is not as disgusting as Netanyahu’s, it is even more absurd but still designed to promote fear and loathing. Democrats, according to Trump, are deranged, radical Communists. This from a man who is constantly praising his good friends the dictators running Russia, China and North Korea. But never fear. Trump media is parroting the mantra. A drinking game you should only try at home, since you won’t have to drive, is to take a shot every time someone on Fox News says the words communist and Democrats in the same sentence.
Aside from their desperation stemming from a desire to avoid a Democratic majority in either house of congress or a change of government in Israel, the two leaders have lots of other things in common. They both want to destroy the International Criminal Court because they fear that they might have to appear before it someday to answer charges of war crimes. And they want to subjugate their own judiciaries and limit the independence of the courts.
They both hate the press whenever it uses its freedom to criticize their governments no matter how justified or when journalist point out their falsehoods. They both use the false suggestion that foreign election interference is going to limit their landslide victories. They both use that and any other gimmick, like Trump’s demands to pass the SAVE Act and to eliminate mail-in ballots, to try to secure a victory even though it undermines public confidence in the integrity of elections. And they both use their razor thin majorities in the legislative branch to do whatever they can to strengthen their chances of staying in power.
Are there enough gullible voters in both countries who will fall for these tactics and be suckered into allowing them to maintain their grip on power? We will all find out in less than 100 days.