Almost four years ago, Benjamin Netanyahu made his first visit to Washington as the newly-elected prime minister. It was his second term in office. His first term ended badly, leaving him detested by the Israeli public, shunned from politics and an outcast in the American capital. The headlines in Israel that accompanied his trip proclaimed that Netanyahu was facing a direct threat from the American administration. “Bushehr or Yitzhar,” screamed one such headline, referencing the option of support against the Iranian nuclear program or keeping a settlement in the heart of the West Bank. Political pundits with White House connections gave a stunning description of how Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and his colleagues in President Obama’s inner circle were plotting to “school” Netanyahu and bring him to his knees. Want help against Iran? Sure, just evacuate settlements, freeze construction and get on board the peace process. “The party is over,” said the Americans. If Netanyahu wants the same attitude from us that Israel has grown accustomed to receive for at least a generation, he will have to work up a sweat.

Sitting aboard his flight to Washington, Netanyahu seemed pensive and worried. “What do they want?” he asked privately. “To bring me down?” No one knew what to tell him.  By the time Bibi arrived in the American capital, he was scared and apprehensive. The fallout from that first meeting with President Barack Obama was harsh. There was no chemistry worth mentioning. There was, however, mutual distrust and quite a bit of tension. It looked like the beginning of a beautiful rivalry. Then came a freeze on construction in the territories. And then it all fell apart. The Americans made every imaginable error. They perched Abu Mazen too high up the tree, took away the ladder and left.

There was a time when every Israeli prime minister knew that in order for them to keep their job, they first needed to earn Washington’s support. The Israeli public considered the strategic relationship with the US to be a vital asset of the highest magnitude, much more important than the futility of this place, than the outposts and the settlers. Failure to bring Washington on board was a sure sign that they would not remain in power. Period. In 1991 it was President George Bush the Elder who denied these guarantees to then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and showed him the door. In 1992 Shamir lost the elections to Yitzhak Rabin. In 1999 it was President Bill Clinton who gave Netanyahu — the very same Netanyahu — the cold shoulder, and this led to his defeat by Ehud Barak in the next elections. Israelis learned to recognize the value of America, and they learned to appreciate it. Anyone who posed a threat to this relationship was putting himself at risk.

And today? The situation has been turned completely upside down. Israel is well in the midst of an election campaign. It is a very sensitive period. In times like these, the ruling prime minister is generally accustomed to heaping flattery and praises on the American administration. He tries to arrange a highly publicized trip to Washington, and he boasts of the special relationship he has forged with the sitting President. Not this time.  Netanyahu and Avigdor Liberman are doing the exact opposite. Instead, they launch a provocative statement about construction in Jerusalem or the territories — whichever comes first — just about every week. Obama has become the punching bag of the “Likud-Beiteinu” party, and the mob cheers on. Meanwhile, the Israeli public is indifferent and shows no signs of concern.  Bibi can continue pummeling the Americans as far as we’re concerned, as long as the ship keeps sailing forward and the band plays happily on deck.