Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu couldn’t have hoped for an easier US administration than the one in power today.

President Bill Clinton despised him and suggests as much in his autobiography. He believes that Netanyahu sabotaged the Oslo Accords. Yes, Netanyahu walked it back temporarily, by fulfilling the agreement in part during the 1998 Wye Plantation talks, but Netanyahu quickly returned to his old self. As soon as he landed in Israel, he announced that the third phase of redeployment on the West Bank, out of the three phases agreed to in the accords, would not exceed 1% of the territory!

As for President Barack Obama, Netanyahu portrayed him as hating Israel. The lack of chemistry between the two men dates back to the moment they first met, in Israel during the 2008 election campaign. Obama had no qualms saying that people could support Israel without supporting Likud. The ensuing conflict between the two men was well known to everyone. Even the $38 billion defense aid package that Obama provided Israel over the course of 10 years wasn’t enough to thaw their icy relationship. Netanyahu went on to address a joint session of Congress about the Iran nuclear deal, hoping to convince the House and Senate to oppose Obama’s policies toward Iran. This unusual step set a precedent in the relationship between Israel and its benefactor, which had never reached such a low point.

Netanyahu’s gamble on Donald Trump and against Hillary Clinton seemed risky, with little chance of success. Trump never went so far as to utter a cavalcade of pro-Israel statements during his campaign. At one point, he even declared that Israel would be forced to pay a price for the defense assistance it receives. Trump announced that under his leadership, the United States would be neutral in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, so it could broker the “deal of the century.”