Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies have been resoundingly silent since President Donald Trump tarred millions of American Jews with the anti-Semitic trope of disloyalty to their homeland Aug. 20. While Jewish and non-Jewish members of Congress lashed out at the president and Jewish organizations of all stripes demanded that he retract his remarks, Twitter master Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu kept mum. Similarly, Yamina (Rightward) coalition senior officials Ayelet Shaked and Bezalel Smotrich, who rave against any foreign leader who dares to criticize Jews and questions their right to the entire Land of Israel, have swallowed their tongues. And on the political center-left, the last time Blue and White Chair Benny Gantz mentioned Trump was to extol him for recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights on March 21. Neither former Prime Minister Ehud Barak nor Nitzan Horwitz, leaders of the left-wing Democratic Camp, have stood up to defend their brothers across the sea, either.

It fell to President Reuven Rivlin once again to save what little is left of the Jewish State’s dignity. With admirable diplomatic caution, Rivlin told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, “The relationship between the State of Israel and the United States is a link between peoples, which relies on historical ties, deep and strong friendships and shared values that are not dependent on the relationship with one particular party.” Not a word about the most egregious remarks ever made by an American president against the largest Jewish community in the Diaspora.

It is easy to imagine how long it would have taken Netanyahu to bang out a vicious tweet against former President Barack Hussein Obama had Obama hinted that American Jews who vote Republican are disloyal to their country. “Who is Obama? Obama is history,” Culture Minister Miri Regev said a month after Trump’s 2016 election to office, reacting to Obama’s criticism of Israeli settlement policy. “We have Trump,” said Regev, whose comments generally reflect the unadulterated, unfiltered views of the prime minister. Indeed, it can be said that “we,” meaning the Israeli political right led by Netanyahu, “have Trump.” He honored them with a presidential visit to Israel, transferred the US Embassy to Jerusalem, pulled the United States out of the nuclear deal with Iran, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, placed the peace process with the Palestinians in a coma and turned Netanyahu into one of the White House family.

Netanyahu has reciprocated for Trump’s benevolence with heaped servings of flattery. He never misses an opportunity to praise the president, whom he calls “a true friend” of Israel, suggesting that his predecessors were not. Netanyahu honored Trump by naming a Golan Heights community after him, and ignored the president’s troubling reaction to the October 2018 massacre at the Pittsburgh synagogue, which angered the Jewish community. The cherry on the cake was Netanyahu’s decision to ban the visit of two Democratic congresswomen (Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota) prompted by a single White House tweet.