Trump's calling the shots for Israel marks shift in ties with Netanyahu

US President reining in Israelis for their own good, says his son-in-law

- David M. Halbfinger

The parade of Trump administration officials to Jerusalem over the past week to ensure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sticks to the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip drew a catchy shorthand in the Israeli news media, playing on the Prime Minister's nickname: Bibi-sitting.

However, beyond the supposed adult supervision being given to a sovereign ally was a more striking change. A distinct new phase in the US-Israel relationship is being cemented, particularly in the relationship between the two countries' leaders.

In US President Donald Trump's first term, he showered Mr Netanyahu with political gifts, including recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital and recognising Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Early in his current term, too, Mr Trump indulged Mr Netanyahu, briefly feeding right-wing Israelis' fantasies of depopulating and developing the Gaza Strip as a Middle Eastern “Riviera”.

He then backed Mr Netanyahu in March when the latter broke a ceasefire with Hamas. And he delivered an entirely new level of support for Israel by deploying B-2 bombers to strike Iran's nuclear sites in June.

“The term used in Israel was that he works for us,” Professor Reuven Hazan of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem said of Mr Trump. “Everybody thought that Trump was mouthing words that Bibi wrote for him.”

That is no longer the case.

Rather, Mr Trump has increasingly aired his frustrations with Mr Netanyahu. One early example was Mr Trump’s eruption at the Prime Minister over an Israeli air strike on Iran in June after a ceasefire had been reached in that 12-day war.

After Israel’s botched air strike on Hamas negotiators in Qatar in September, Mr Trump, meeting Mr Netanyahu in the Oval Office, forced him to call the Qatari Prime Minister and apologise.

Mr Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law, elaborated in an interview on 60 Minutes on Oct 20.