A Trump policy statement issued just before the election could have been written by Netanyahu himself.
It dismissed a two-state solution as "impossible," blaming the Palestinian leadership for rewarding terrorism and educating children in "hatred of Israel and Jews." It suggested that Israel would have a free hand to expand the settlements.
There were hints too that US military aid might be increased above the record $38 billion over 10 years recently agreed by Obama. And the statement proposed a crackdown on all boycott activities, even those targeting settlements. "The false notion that Israel is an occupier should be rejected," it concluded.
So why the nerves in Tel Aviv?
However hawkish Netanyahu appears to outsiders, he is relatively moderate compared to the rest of his Likud party and his government coalition partners.
The prime minister has won favor at home by presenting himself as an embattled leader, but one best placed to look out for Israel's interests against a hostile White House. Now with the battlefield gone, Netanyahu's armor risks making him look both clumsy and surplus to requirements.
There is another danger. Trump's advisers on the Israel-Palestine conflict are closer to settler leader Naftali Bennett, the education minister, than Netanyahu. After Trump's victory, Bennett crowed: "The era of a Palestinian state is over."
The Israeli prime minister could find himself outflanked by Bennett if the Trump administration approves settler demands to annex most or all of the West Bank.
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