President Donald Trump’s impending swing through Riyadh, Doha, and Abu Dhabi arrives amid chatter – much of it anonymous – that the United States and Israel are drifting apart over Gaza strategy, Iran diplomacy, and regional architecture.
Israelis under constant rocket fire, and Americans who still remember October 7 have no patience for rumor-mill theatrics. They expect the two leaders who did the “impossible” once before – recognizing Jerusalem, securing the Golan Heights, and birthing the Abraham Accords – to rise above ego, align their clocks, and finish the job that history assigned them: defeating the jihadist axis and stabilizing the Middle East.
NBC News, citing a grab-bag of unnamed officials, said on Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is furious at Trump’s negotiations with Tehran and that the president bristles at expanded IDF operations in Gaza. That story ricocheted worldwide, feeding a narrative of estrangement.
Within hours, however, three voices with actual proximity to both men issued blunt rebuttals. Former US ambassador David Friedman declared on X: “There is NO RIFT between President Trump and PM Netanyahu. Those who say otherwise are feeding false accounts.” Conservative host Mark R. Levin warned that “isolationists and media” in both countries were leaking lies to split the allies. And Trump’s new envoy in Jerusalem, Mike Huckabee, dismissed the affair as “nonsense from sources who don’t put their name on it,” adding, “The partnership is STRONG.”
Who to believe – officials who attach signatures or ghosts whispering through keyholes? Israelis and Americans can take comfort in the track record: since Trump’s return to the White House in January, bilateral military and intelligence channels have never been busier, senior envoys shuttle weekly, and joint planning has extended from Rafah to the Red Sea. Private disagreements inevitably flare; the measure of an alliance is how they are managed, not whether they exist.
The coming days will test that management on three interconnected fronts: 1. Defeating Hamas and rescuing the hostages; 2. Stopping Iran’s dash to the bomb; 3. Expanding regional normalization.
The skeptics forget how many times experts said something “could never happen” until it did. Moving the US embassy to Jerusalem? Impossible. Recognizing the Golan? Reckless. Securing Arab normalization without solving the Palestinian file? Delusional. All three occurred because Trump and Netanyahu fused political will with policy creativity. The same playbook can work again, provided each side resists domestic temptations to score points at the other’s expense.
Netanyahu’s coalition partners relish tough rhetoric; Trump’s populist base revels in “America First” flourishes. Yet both audiences respect strength and results more than theatrical brinkmanship.
Practical steps matter. The prime minister should keep war‑cabinet debates behind closed doors and refrain from leaking frustrations about ceasefire proposals to sympathetic columnists. The president should avoid surprise press statements that leave Israeli officials scrambling to reconcile on-the-ground realities with Washington sound bites. Above all, both leaders must empower their envoys to finalize joint contingency plans for Gaza, Lebanon, and the Gulf. When professionals solve problems, politicians share credit.
Polls show overwhelming bipartisan support in the US for Israel’s right to eliminate Hamas, coupled with impatience for a coherent day-after plan. Israeli polls mirror that dual demand: finish the war decisively, then lock in a sustainable regional architecture. Those expectations contain no contradictions – unless leaders allow personal pride to manufacture them.
Israel and the United States are bound not merely by interests but by values: democracy, innovation, and the conviction that free peoples must defeat totalitarians who glorify death. Trump likes to boast that he breaks diplomatic norms; Netanyahu prides himself on defying strategic fatalism. Here is their chance to channel that shared contrarian streak into renewed partnership.
Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister: the free world has enough adversaries. Do not hand them a propaganda win. Stride into this visit as teammates, emerge with a clearer path to finish Hamas, freeze Iran’s nuclear program, and expand peace in the region. Your own citizens will judge you by whether you seized this moment to keep the US-Israel bond iron-clad.