Opinion: Trump’s relationship with Netanyahu could sour very quickly
President Trump with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on March 25. By Henry Olsen Henry Olsen Columnist focusing on politics, populism, and American conservative thought Email Bio Follow Columnist April 12 at 4:29 PM The friendship between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been firm and unshakable so far.
There are now more than 400,000 Jewish settlers in West Bank settlements, with another 200,000 or so in East Jerusalem. This is slightly less than 10 percent of the total number of Israeli Jews, and they overwhelmingly support parties in the nationalist-religious bloc that backs Netanyahu. Moreover, they most frequently back the most religious or the most nationalist of those parties.
Netanyahu also took a step in the final days of the campaign that, on its own, could sabotage any peace plan. Settlers have long wanted to see all of the West Bank annexed into Israel without giving the Palestinians automatic Israeli citizenship. Netanyahu endorsed part of that ideal, saying he wanted to incorporate Israeli settlements into Israel proper. He also said he would not uproot one settler from the West Bank. Neither pronouncement is conducive to a settlement with the Palestinians.
Those claims, and Netanyahu’s reliance on religious and nationalist parties like the Union, will have serious consequences for the Trump-Netanyahu relationship because the Trump administration’s long-expected peace plan, which is expected to land as early as this month, is likely to include some proposal for a contiguous Palestinian state.
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