Netanyahu believes he’s Israel’s man of destiny. Now is his moment of truth
The PM argues only he can destroy Hamas, stop Iran, make peace with the Saudis, and ensure Israel’s survival. He will either prove that claim — or show it was just a ruse to cling to power
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Benjamin Netanyahu has made no secret of the fact that he thinks extensively about his role in the long history of the Jewish people.
“I would like to be remembered as the protector of Israel,” he told Fareed Zakaria in 2016. “That’s enough for me, protector of Israel.”
He sees World War II’s British prime minister Winston Churchill — whose bust keeps a watchful eye over his office — as his inspiration, rallying the liberal West to fight against a brutal enemy that threatens Jews and all civilization. For Churchill, it was Nazi Germany; for Netanyahu, the Islamic Republic of Iran.
After Netanyahu’s visit to Washington last week, the goal of just stopping Iran suddenly seems limited. Netanyahu is now in a position to fulfill the dream of Israel’s founders — to ensure Israel’s permanent place in the region, enjoying firm alliances with its neighbors and secure borders free of terrorist groups.
For Israel, and for Netanyahu, the stars have aligned, the ducks are all in a row, the pieces have fallen into place. Pick your metaphor. What matters is that US President Donald Trump showed last week that he is on board with every one of Netanyahu’s goals, and then some.
Trump restored the maximum pressure policy against Iran and its nuclear program on the day he met Netanyahu. He promised to work with Israel “to ensure Hamas is eliminated” — not just pushed out from ruling Gaza. He wants to broker the Saudi-Israeli normalization deal. Trump is going after the International Criminal Court for targeting Israel’s leaders, and has obsessive Israel critics like South Africa and Ireland in the crosshairs.
During Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, there was not a word of criticism from Trump or anyone in his administration — a welcome change from the Joe Biden era, during which senior officials rarely said a positive word without throwing in not-so-veiled threats or critiques.
And Trump took the Israeli delegation by surprise with the announcement that the US would “take over” the Gaza Strip, offering Netanyahu a plan for the day after Hamas that has proven so difficult to elucidate.
What’s more, Netanyahu is working with a president who is on firm political footing. Republicans control both houses of Congress, and with a victory in the popular vote as well as the electoral college, Trump has a clear mandate to rule. Unlike his first term, he has loyalists surrounding him, and Democrats are too dispirited and divided to come up with a plan to confront him. When they do, they are unlikely to pick foreign policy and Israel as the issues on which they can gain traction again.
Netanyahu clearly understands how to play to Trump’s outsized personality and need for loyalty. He succeeded in clawing back favor in the wake of a hostile turn in 2021, after Netanyahu called Biden to congratulate him on defeating Trump. Following years of careful communications between the Netanyahu and Trump camps, and a fateful Mar-a-Lago visit last summer, the relationship has been restored. The fact that Netanyahu was the first foreign leader Trump hosted at the White House is a testament to Netanyahu’s ability to cultivate the personal bond.
Trump’s plan shores up Netanyahu’s domestic standing as well. Before the prime minister’s Washington trip, his far-right coalition partners threatened to bring down the government if he went through with the second stage of the hostage deal and ended the war in Gaza. Now, they see Netanyahu as the one who can bring about their fantasy of masses of Palestinians heading abroad, with the path open for rebuilding Jewish settlement in the Strip.
For years, Netanyahu and his supporters have justified his ruthless and ideologically agnostic political deal-making as necessary to keep in power the only leader who can protect Israel from its myriad enemies. To return to office, he brought Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party into the mainstream, and to maintain his hold, is willing to let Haredi parties shield their young men from military service at a time when the IDF is begging for more combat troops.
Such Machiavellian dealing will be excused, if remembered at all, if Netanyahu achieves what is now on the table. Netanyahu, history will say, kept the Iran issue as an international priority. He weathered the difficult Obama and Biden administrations without a collapse in bilateral ties, and positioned himself to take advantage of the two Trump terms. He led Israel’s strategic offensive against the Islamic Republic, severely eroding its deterrence and showing the Saudis that Israel — not Iran — is the strongest military force in the region.
If the hostages are returned, Hamas is driven out of Gaza, and the US takes some sort of responsibility for what comes next, he could even be remembered more for the comprehensive victory over the perpetrators of the October 7, 2023, onslaught than for failing to stop the massacre in the first place.
If, however, Netanyahu fumbles this opportunity at the goal line, then his machinations to remain in power will be seen as nothing more than self-serving attempts to cling to the throne, regardless of the security or economic well-being of Israeli citizens.
Netanyahu has fought for years to be in this very position, and what he does with the opportunity in front of him will define the legacy he cares about so deeply.
“The distance from triumph to tragedy was often only a few centimeters wide,” he wrote in his autobiography about his military exploits.
Now, the future of the Jewish state — and history’s verdict on his tenure — depends on what Netanyahu does with the coming months. It could become a period of squandered opportunities — or it could become the prime minister’s finest hour.
