As uncomfortable as it was to watch Monday’s press conference with US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, imagine how unsettling it must have been for the guest from Jerusalem.
As is his wont, Trump went off on semi-intelligible tangents, harping on the Gaza beachfront property that Israel let slip through its fingers and how sad he was that Hamas terrorists did not show any signs of humanity toward their Israeli captors.
Netanyahu had to sit there with a glassy smile on his face as Trump, in his passive-aggressive manner, reminded everyone that the US provided Israel with $4 billion of aid, so what’s a little tariff between friends?
The smiling façade apparently only shattered once, when Trump announced that the US was about to hold direct talks with Iran this weekend.
Trump running the show
Of course, anyone watching on TV would not have seen that because, for some reason, the camera feed that Israeli TV stations received from the US only showed Trump during the supposedly joint press conference.
Netanyahu was just a voice off to the side, heard only when prompted by the host. Trump was the puppeteer, and Netanyahu was the mute, obedient puppet.
The perceived short-term gain that Netanyahu thought Israel had been prized with after Trump’s victory and a respite from the sometimes adversary relationship with the Biden administration has vanished.
Whatever the reasons are that Trump and Netanyahu hastily met on Monday remain a mystery, aside from the US perspective of demonstrating Trump’s utter dominance in the US-Israel relationship.
From Israel’s side, the hostages are no closer to getting home, the tariffs on Israel have not been lifted, and the US is headed to talks with Israel’s archenemy, Iran.
If it was not clear before, Monday’s spectacle amplified the reality that Trump is going to do exactly what he wants, regardless of displaying Netanyahu as his “partner.”
Well, at least we will be able to go to the beach in Gaza.