After an extended six-day visit to Washington and Palm Beach, Florida, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will return to Israel on Sunday stepping directly into the current escalation with Hezbollah following the massacre of 12 children and teenagers from a rocket strike on a football field in Majdal Shams. He will immediately convene the political-security cabinet to discuss Israel’s response.
From an Israeli standpoint, it appears Netanyahu achieved exactly what he hoped to, during his visit: positive exposure. He demonstrated to Israelis that he remains Israel's advocate and the only one, other than former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who can "speak American" like him.
On a personal level, he was invited to the Oval Office for the first time since his government was formed. It's fair to say Netanyahu worked hard to get this invitation. He was also finally able to use his extravagant jet, the Wing of Zion - Israel's "Air Force One" - which had become a symbol of his government’s indulgence.
This visit brought color back to Netanyahu’s cheeks, at least until its conclusion and the disaster in Majdal Shams. In a sense, it "rebooted" the old Netanyahu. He appeared smug. Happy. Overall, there is a feeling this visit launched Netanyahu's election campaign.
It’s no coincidence that the prime minister took with him to Washington, his former communications advisor Topaz Luk, who left the Prime Minister's Office and returned to the Likud Party. Nor is it coincidental that his advisors continuously updated Netanyahu's mouthpieces with behind-the-scenes photos throughout the visit while ignoring most of the press corps accompanying him.
Netanyahu's visit to the US already benefitted him in public opinion polls which is exactly what he wanted to achieve.
While the visit was successful from an Israeli perspective, those viewing it from an American perspective might reach a different conclusion. Despite attempts to maintain some balance between Democrats and Republicans in his Congress speech, Netanyahu went out of his way to please former president Donald Trump and the Republicans, further risking the already fragile relations with the Biden administration, Vice President and the likely Democrat candidate for president Kamal Harris and the Democratic party. This risky gamble could come back to haunt Israel should Harris clinch the White House.
On Friday, for example, Netanyahu's team quoted a senior political official claiming that Harris in her statement following her meeting with the prime ministers, may have jeopardized negotiations for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Aides to the VP were furious and said her statement was identical to the messages Netanyahu heard from U.S. President Joe Biden when the two met earlier. Democratic Party sources were convinced that the "briefing" by a senior political official in the Prime Minister's entourage was pre-planned as a peace offering to Trump.
On the other hand, Netanyahu's team explained that what they didn’t like about Harris's statement was "the tone." They may be right. Harris spoke about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza - as if she hadn’t listened to Netanyahu's speech in Congress, where he denied that there was hunger in the Strip. This is not entirely far-fetched considering the vice president chose not to attend Netanyahu's address to the joint session citing scheduling problems.
Trump, who understood Netanyahu's game, used his meeting with Netanyahu to attack Harris, accusing her of disrespecting Israel and wondering how a Jewish person could vote for her. He later intensified his attack even further. Thus, despite the achievement of smoothing things over with Trump, Netanyahu and his wife Sara became extras in a Trump campaign video slamming Harris and the Democrats. This is exactly what Netanyahu should have avoided.
Imitating Trump Netanyahu took with him to Washington a baseball cap with the words "total victory." Another indication he was already on his political campaign, while the families of hostages said they did not believe he was willing to make a deal to free their loved ones. It is still too early to assess the visit’s contribution to advancing the hostage deal. Netanyahu said he wanted a deal, but it's unclear what exactly he authorized the negotiating team to agree to.
The fact is, that precious time has been wasted: a whole week of negotiations went down the drain. Time the hostages simply don't have.