No one in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office was surprised when US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman told The New York Times on June 6 about the possibility of Israel annexing some West Bank territories. As we recall, Friedman had said that “under certain circumstances, I think Israel has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank.” This statement aroused a giant storm throughout the Middle East and in Israel’s political space. It was interpreted as an American hint that the United States may recognize annexation of certain Israeli settlements in the West Bank, if and when Netanyahu declares such a course of action.
The ambassador’s statement did not take the prime minister's office by surprise. In fact, it seems that ever since President Donald Trump entered the Oval Office, almost no American moves or decisions really surprised the prime minister's office in Jerusalem. The prevailing assessment is that the opposite is true. “You can’t drive a wedge between Trump and Netanyahu,” one of Netanyahu’s associates told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. “They are always on the same page, whether directly or, usually, via the ambassadors.” This close associate was referring to two ambassadors: Ron Dermer, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, and Friedman, the American ambassador to Jerusalem.
A temporary high point was achieved before the last elections in April, when Trump gave Netanyahu a tremendous campaign gift in the form of American recognition of Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights. When it emerged that Israel was headed toward another electoral campaign, the need arose for additional US emergency assistance to Netanyahu. Something along the lines of US President Nixon’s arms airlift to Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Then, it was to save the Jewish state from defeat in the battlefield. Today, it is to save Netanyahu’s neck. As simple as that.
It began on May 27, several days before Netanyahu’s deadline for assembling a coalition government. Trump himself expressed support for Netanyahu on Twitter: “Hoping things will work out with Israel's coalition formation and Bibi and I can continue to make the alliance between America and Israel stronger than ever. A lot more to do!” he tweeted. The presidential tweet was viewed in Israel as a direct, inappropriate interference of the American president in Israel’s political process. However, not a single Israeli volunteer was found to criticize Trump for this — not in Blue and White or in Labor.
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