Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu no doubt caused waves among many conservative American voters on Sunday when he declined to explicitly back Donald Trump’s comeback campaign.
During an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Netanyahu was asked if he supports the latest presidential bid by Trump, a man he previously called Israel’s best friend ever in the White House.
“Keep me out of it,” quipped Israel’s incoming prime minister, following his own successful political comeback.
“I’ll deal with anyone who’s elected president, those that I worked with in the past, and anyone new who comes to the plate, because the bond between Israel and America … it really is a bond between peoples and a civilizational bond, and it’s strong,” he added.
Netanyahu said that commenting on Trump one way or another is at present a political “landmine.”
Trump has in recent weeks become an increasingly polarizing figure, even among conservative US voters, after meeting at his Mar-a-Lago resort with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes, both of whom have expressed overtly antisemitic views.
That’s put the former president in a sticky situation. He’s widely regarded, especially by Israeli Jews, as the most Israel-friendly US president ever for:
- Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital;
- Flipping the Middle East peace process on its head to put Israeli concerns first; and
- Facilitating normalization between the Jewish state and several important Arab states.
On the other hand, he has troubling ties to some extreme elements, including people like Kanye West, which fuels liberal accusations that he himself is actually antisemitic.
Netanyahu has made clear that he sees the accusations that Trump is antisemitic as ludicrous.
In October, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated unequivocally that remarks made at the time by Trump “were antisemitic,” and charged that he has long been “aligned with extremist and antisemitic figures.”
The Israeli leader responded by reminding everyone that Trump has a Jewish son-in-law, for whom his own daughter converted to Judaism, and has Jewish grandchildren whom he loves.
In his most recent interview with American media, Netanyahu said he hopes Trump will understand that hosting antisemitic figures is “unacceptable” and “see his way to condemning it.”
Relations between Trump and Netanyahu have been rocky (or at least appeared that way) since the former was voted out of the White House in 2020. Trump claims, and continues to claim, that the election results were tainted by fraud, and was upset when Netanyahu followed other world leaders in congratulating Joe Biden on his victory.
Trump charged that Netanyahu was early, insultingly so, in his customary congratulatory call to Biden. The former president and many of his stalwart supporters saw it as an act of betrayal, a knife in the back after all Trump had done for Israel.
In fact, Netanyahu was conspicuously late in calling Biden, so much so that the Israeli media and Knesset opposition at the time slammed him for straining relations with the incoming US administration.
Will Trump regain the White House in 2024? Does he still hold a grudge against Netanyahu, and will that influence his treatment of Israel should he again become president?
Time will tell. Donald Trump is a mercurial figure. During his previous term, that played in Israel’s favor. But Israelis are cognizant that it could easily go the other way next time around.
