Not long ago, Israel’s period of war resuming in the Gaza Strip three weeks ago – a re-attack offensive that has claimed more than a thousand casualties – will release intense Western pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu.
Condemnation was originally quick and quick in public and in down-and-down conversations. The demands for restraint will come from Europe and the White House, and in four years President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Now that Mr. Biden is gone, President Trump has made it clear that he has no intention to continue his ex. Mr. Trump's trade war distracted Europe, and Mr. Netanyahu consolidated his majority in the Israeli parliament, giving him more room for political action.
On Monday, Mr. Netanyahu sat next to Trump next to the Oval Office, whom the president called him a “great leader.” The Prime Minister has not received relief from the 17% tariff, and Mr. Trump said he would impose one of the main goals of the trip in Israel and did not immediately support our military operations against Iran's nuclear facilities. Sometimes, when Mr. Trump talks in detail about trade, immigration, and the U.S. economy, he doesn't seem to be universal.
But Mr. Trump is largely quiet on the big issues of Israel's new military movement in Gaza. He did not mention the Israeli attack on ambulances and a fire truck last week, killing 15 emergency workers, or the April 3 strike killed dozens of people, including children, a school transition.
“I definitely think Netanyahu is trying to use what he thinks is a pathway to increase the space for maneuver,” said Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House. She said Mr. Trump's silence was brave in the escalating Israeli attacks within Gaza after a two-month ceasefire.
Observers inside and outside Israel said the result was the release of the Prime Minister, limiting his actions in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. This means Mr. Netanyahu is free to restore his overhaul of his country's judicial system without condemning Washington. This means changes have occurred in an area attacked by 18 months of armed conflict.
Israel now bans aid from entering Gaza for more than a month. Israeli forces patrol areas in southern Lebanon and Syria, and Israeli leaders say they will keep it indefinitely. An enemy, the powerful Lebanese militia, Hezbollah, was severely weakened in the war with Israel. The other is the Assad regime in Syria, which was overthrown by rebels.
Mr. Netanyahu's critics pointed out that he has resisted global opinions for years and sold himself to the Israeli public because he will ignore the world to protect the country's leaders. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, he shrugged at the criticism of the United States and the world in the response to the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 50,000 Palestinians in a military campaign.
“There is very little pressure to dismiss and be dismissed,” said Daniel Levy, president of the U.S./Middle East program.
They say that despite this, the difference between that time and now is shocking.
In Gaza, Mr. Biden repeatedly expressed his support for Israel's right to defend, prompting some in the United States to accuse him of not putting enough pressure on Israel to stop civilian deaths. But Mr Biden did criticize the massive air strikes during Israel’s military campaign, once called it “top” and said the suffering of innocent people “must stop.”
Last June, he accused Mr. Netanyahu of seeking to extend the war for domestic political reasons. Although he never cut off the weapons stream to Israel, Mr. Biden did postpone the delivery of the largest U.S. bomb. Before the war, Mr. Biden also put pressure on the Israeli Prime Minister to ease his efforts to overhaul his country's judicial system, a plan critic called blatant power that poses an existential threat to Israel's liberal democracy.
“They can't continue along this road – I've already got it clear,” Biden said.
Now, the pressure has evaporated.
Mr. Trump did not challenge Mr. Netanyahu about the judicial plan. Analysts say the president's own actions – attacking judges and law firms that displeased him – Mr. Netanyahu could see his efforts as a kind of licensing.
A former senior U.S. official said Mr. Netanyahu saw Mr. Trump as a “traveler” in his efforts to reshape the judiciary for his preferences.
Mr. Netanyahu's former adviser Nadav Shtrauchler said the prime minister had undergone a “complete reversal” under the Trump administration, which gave him “more space to function”.
Mr. Netanyahu even began responding to Mr. Trump's rhetoric flourishing, repeatedly attacking his opponents as a member of a “deep country” dedicated to persecuting him. “I have not heard any concerns about 'Israel democracy' or pressure on Netanyahu,” Mr Shtrauchler said. “On the contrary.”
Mr Shtrauchler said at home, Mr Netanyahu stabilized his political status by removing almost all the threats to his strict management alliance. He added that while his critics may consider the move, Mr. Netanyahu's constituency remains firmly behind him, giving him a free hand.
Since the worst security failure in Israel's history since the October 7 attack, the Prime Minister has defied critics' opposition, which has put himself in strength. Last month, he moved to his intelligence chief and attorney general as part of his efforts to consolidate power and eliminate competitors.
In Europe, leaders who once spoke strongly about Mr. Netanyahu's actions were distracted by Mr. Trump's tariffs and efforts to get rid of the global financial crisis. And, Mr. Trump's hub is still stunning from decades of the transatlantic alliance and its propaganda to Russia.
Mr. Netanyahu seems to be increasingly concerned about Europe's ideas.
His administration has blocked two British MPs from entering Israel for a fact-finding mission in recent days, prompting Foreign Secretary David Lammy to issue an outraged statement calling it “unacceptable, counterproductive, worrying, and worrying.”
In February, Mr. Netanyahu joined Russia and Mr. Trump against European efforts at the United Nations to show support for Ukraine's territorial integrity. Last week, Mr. Netanyahu was treated in Hungary in Hungary, where Viktor Orban, the country's authoritarian leader, is close to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin.
Mr. Netanyahu thanked Mr. Oban for withdrawing from the country from the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant to Mr. Netanyahu and his former Minister of Defense in November, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
But Mr. Netanyahu's latest move in Gaza is the most compelling.
Opponents of his decision to restart the fight are quite downplayed in Israel, although public opinion polls show that most people want a deal to end the fight and release hostages held in Gaza, and that most voters do not support the Prime Minister and his alliance. Mr. Trump’s comments on the future of Gaza have changed the way Mr. Netanyahu talks about the fate of the region.
The president announced in February that he would support the mass deportation of Palestinians to create a “Riviera” in the Gaza Strip, a proposal that would seriously violate international law. Since then, Mr. Netanyahu and other Israeli politicians have spoken more openly about Israel’s future indefinite control of the region. Mr. Netanyahu praised it as a benefit to the people of Gaza after Mr. Trump repeated the idea on Tuesday.
“They are locked up. What's the problem with giving people choices?” Mr. Netanyahu said, while also insisting that Israel has not left people in Gaza for many years. The Prime Minister said he and the president had already spoken at lunch about the country he claimed to be willing to recruit Palestinians who wanted to leave Gaza. Egypt and Jordan have repeatedly refused to do so.
“The president has a vision,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “Countries are responding to this vision. We are working hard.”
In Israel, the idea that Palestinians would be expelled from Gaza was once a province on the furth-right side. Now, it has been recognized by the President of the United States and repeated by Mr. Netanyahu, the Israeli Secretary of Defense has established a position responsible for overseeing the policy.
“Encouraging, the uplift it gives is a camp in Israel, it is very extreme, very zero and is gaining power, but it does feel now that it can run things.”
