Despite clashes with US presidents, Israel's Netanyahu usually gets his way

A little over a month ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to have been shunted to the shadows by U.S. President Donald Trump, who hopscotched the Middle East without visiting Israel, traditionally Washington's closest regional ally.

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Worse still, from Netanyahu's perspective, Trump lifted sanctions on neighbouring Syria - something Israel opposed - and talked up the prospects of securing a nuclear deal with Iran, something the prime minister has always cautioned against.

The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.Fast forward five weeks and the United States has bombed Iran's main nuclear installations, fulfilling a decades-old dream of Netanyahu to convince Washington to bring its full military might to thwart Tehran's atomic ambitions.

The U.S. attack underscores a broader truth that has defined Netanyahu's career: no matter how fraught his relationships with successive presidents, he normally ends up getting what he wants.For over three decades, Netanyahu has clashed - often spectacularly - with American leaders. He has lectured them, defied them, embarrassed them publicly and privately. And yet, across Democratic and Republican administrations, U.S. military aid has flowed largely uninterrupted to Israel. Washington remains Israel's chief arms supplier and diplomatic shield."He probably has concluded that he always gets away with it," said a senior United Nations official in Jerusalem who declined to be named.