This is how things look at the moment from the perspective of Blue and White’s leadership, which has been rapidly losing altitude over the past few days: President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century” is not a historic Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal, but a deal between Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In short, the president is rescuing Netanyahu from his political death, and in return, Netanyahu will help Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, using all the tools at his disposal (and he has quite a few) to mobilize the evangelical component of Trump's base, and that's just for starters.

Trump is trying to prove his vitality and responsible leadership at the height of his Senate impeachment trial by hosting Netanyahu along with Blue and White leader Benny Gantz at the White House on Jan. 28 to present his Middle East peace plan. Meanwhile, Netanyahu is pounding the Blue and White election agenda into dust and throwing the Knesset discussions over his immunity from prosecution into the political trash bin. On Jan. 28 in the United States, television screens will be split between the impeachment trial and the White House summit. In Israel, screens will be split three-ways: on the right, Trump’s trial; on the left, Netanyahu’s immunity proceedings; and in the middle, Netanyahu, king of the White House.

Gantz, who on a clear day could already smell the heady scent of the Prime Minister’s Office, will be dragged by his hair to the White House on the same day the Knesset is supposed to vote on forming a committee to debate Netanyahu’s request for immunity from prosecution on corruption charges. In popular parlance, Trump and Netanyahu have “screwed” Gantz. A senior Blue and White source told Al-Monitor that he is convinced the latest developments were completely orchestrated: Netanyahu coordinated with Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, who scheduled the Knesset debate for Jan. 28. At the same time, Netanyahu coordinated with the White House, which invited Netanyahu and Gantz to meet Trump that same day.

Gantz will now have to decide what to do about the immunity debate. If he insists that it proceed as scheduled, he will look like a petty politician challenging a prime minister who is on a historic, diplomatic mission. If he postpones the debate, he could miss the immunity boat as it sails toward the March 2 election deadline. Thus, Gantz only has bad choices. Netanyahu, once on his political deathbed, is now in recuperation — running the show, overseeing historic moves, dictating the pace — while his people are busy building Gantz’s political coffin.