President Trump with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a joint news conference at the East Room of the White House, Feb. 15, 2017. (Alex Wong\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In the Age of Trump, every post-event analysis requires a double take: Not so much \u201cdid he mean what he said?\u201d \u2013 he appears to mean it, in real time \u2013 but \u201cwill he mean it next week? Tomorrow? In the wee hours, when he tweets?\u201d<\/p>\n
This is the president who, after all, freely speaks of a \u201cban\u201d on travelers from Muslim majority countries and then deploys his spokesmen to insist that there is no ban, and by the way, don\u2019t mention Muslims either.<\/p>\n
So what can we take away from Wednesday\u2019s Netanyahu-Trump summit?<\/p>\n
A lot. His interlocutor on Wednesday, Netanyahu, has a more evolved reputation for consistency, indeed, for coherence. And despite Trump\u2019s famous capacity for peregrinations of thought, he offered enough substance in his remarks \u2013 for instance, confirming a pivot in U.S. policy away from an emphasis on a two-state solution as an outcome to Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.<\/p>\n
So, with considerable trepidation, venture into Wednesday\u2019s summit.<\/p>\n
One State, Two States<\/strong><\/p>\nAt first blush, Trump appeared to headily embrace the prospect of one state \u2013 although it\u2019s not clear what kind of single state he meant. Would Palestinians in the West Bank be enfranchised?<\/p>\n
Comb through what he said, and his departure from the policies of his three predecessors was indeed substantive, but not necessarily radical.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I\u2019m looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like,\u201d he said, as Netanyahu chortled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very happy with the one that both parties like. I can live with either one,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI thought for a while the two-state looked like it may be the easier of the two. But honestly, if Bibi and if the Palestinians \u2014 if Israel and the Palestinians are happy, I\u2019m happy with the one they like the best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump is not endorsing a single state \u2013 he\u2019s kicking it back to the parties: Figure it out, Trump says. Trump\u2019s three predecessors have also said that the final status must be determined by the Israelis and the Palestinians, but also have made clear that the only workable outcome is two states,<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the difference? Netanyahu, in his remarks and briefing Israeli reporters after his three-hour summit with Trump, indicated that the difference is leverage for Israel: If the Palestinians want their own state, it must adhere to Israel\u2019s terms.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu has always said that he believes a Palestinian state should recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and that it must be demilitarized and accept Israeli security control of the West Bank. Until now, those were his preferred outcomes; on Wednesday, he attached a new descriptor to those terms: \u201cprerequisites.\u201d That leaves little wiggle room for the Palestinians.<\/p>\n
He, notably, also did not use the term \u201ctwo states\u201d and refused to afterward in his briefing with reporters. He said instead that others, including former Vice President Joe Biden, have cautioned him that a state deprived of security control is less than a state. Instead of pushing back against the argument, he said it was a legitimate interpretation, but not the only one.<\/p>\n
That relieves pressure from Netanyahu\u2019s right flank in Israel, which has pressed him to seize the transition from the Obama administration \u2013 which insisted on two states and an end to settlement \u2013 to the Trump administration, and expand settlement. Now he can go home and say, truthfully, that has removed from the vocabulary \u201ctwo states.\u201d<\/p>\n
The kid in the candy shop<\/strong><\/p>\nNetanyahu was like the proverbial kid in the candy shop: He couldn\u2019t have made it clearer his relief at the departure of President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s a change that is clearly evident since President Trump took office,\u201d Netanyahu said at the joint press conference, referring to Trump\u2019s tough talk on Iran. \u201cI welcome that. I think it\u2019s \u2014 let me say this very openly: I think it\u2019s long overdue,\u201d<\/p>\n
And not just regarding Iran. Whereas, with Obama, Netanyahu would insist peace talks must take place without preconditions, he was now talking about \u201cprerequisites for peace\u201d with the Palestinians.<\/p>\n
Trump, to Netanyahu\u2019s evident pleasure, embraced one of the Israeli\u2019s favorite causes: Palestinian incitement. Obama had also routinely mentioned the issue, but Trump made ending incitement his front and center expectation of the Palestinians, and described it in the dark terms Netanyahu favors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the Palestinians have to get rid of some of that hate that they\u2019re taught from a very young age,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re taught tremendous hate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netanyahu told Israeli reporters that he also asked Trump to recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, a request that would have been politely ignored had he raised it with any of Trump\u2019s predecessors. He was clearly hopeful about his prospects with Trump; the president was \u201cnot shocked\u201d by the request, he said.<\/p>\n
Beware the candyman: What does Donald want in return?<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019d like to see you hold back on settlements for a little bit,\u201d Trump told Netanyahu. \u201cWe\u2019ll work something out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netanyahu appeared shocked. Trump asked Netanyahu for a temporary settlement freeze, the kind of request that when Obama made it sent Netanyahu and his government into paroxysms of resistance. (Netanyahu insisted to reporters later that his shocked reaction was a put-on \u2013 he said it was a page out of Trump\u2019s bible for realtors, \u201cThe Art of the Deal\u201d \u2014 but he did not explain how looking caught off-guard helped him.)<\/p>\n
Netanyahu did another double-take, when Trump said, referring to his hopes for a comprehensive peace with the Palestinians and with Israel\u2019s Arab neighbors, that \u201cit might be a bigger and better deal than people in this room even understand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netanyahu, notoriously cautious and small-bore in how he approaches diplomacy, did not seem enthusiastic. \u201cLet\u2019s try it,\u201d he muttered. Trump noticed: \u201cDoesn\u2019t sound too optimistic,\u201d he said to laughter.<\/p>\n
Those snapshots of a nonplussed Netanyahu illustrated the Israeli leader\u2019s conundrum: He is throwing all-in with Trump. \u201cThere is no greater supporter of the Jewish people and the Jewish state than President Donald Trump,\u201d he said of a president who has never visited Israel. But that very closeness binds him: How can he reject the entreaties of \u201cno greater supporter\u201d of Israel?<\/p>\n
The request to stay settlement building, to go for the big deal, one that Trump said would likely require Israel to \u201cshow more flexibility than they have in the past\u201d \u2013 what could that mean further down the line? Trump\u2019s proven characteristics include a capacity for unpredictability, a demand for deference and a love of disruption.<\/p>\n
Mix those qualities in with talk of one state and \u201cgreater flexibility,\u201d and the prospects of what Trump demands from Israel are more open-ended than with any previous president \u2013 for better or worse.<\/p>\n
Specifics?<\/strong><\/p>\nLots of tough talk at the press conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think, beyond that, President Trump has led a very important effort in the past few weeks, just coming into the presidency,\u201d Netanyahu said at the press conference. \u201cHe pointed out there are violations, Iranian violations on ballistic missile tests.\u201d<\/p>\n
So did Obama, when Iran tested missiles on his watch. What more could Trump do? No one offered specifics, and Netanyahu told reporters later the time was not ripe to offer specifics. How would they address the deal Obama reached, trading sanctions relief for Iran\u2019s nuclear rollback, that they both reviled? Amend it? Enforce it? Trash it? No specifics.<\/p>\n
Same when it came to the Islamic State terrorist group, also known as ISIS.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou call for the defeat of ISIS,\u201d Netanyahu said. (So did Obama.) \u201cUnder your leadership, I believe we can reverse the rising tide of radical Islam.\u201d Specifics? None.<\/p>\n
Love may drive us apart<\/strong><\/p>\nAn Israeli reporter asked Trump about a spike in anti-Semitic incidents since his election, and wondered what Trump had to say \u201cto those among the Jewish community in the States, and in Israel, and maybe around the world who believe and feel that your administration is playing with xenophobia and maybe racist tones.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump, after yet another bizarre digression on the breadth of his electoral college win over Hillary Clinton, reminded everyone that he had Jewish friends and family and concluded that \u201cyou\u2019re going to see a lot of love.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Netanyahu, who usually is not reluctant emphasize the vulnerabilities of Diaspora Jews \u2026 backed Trump up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve known the President and I\u2019ve known his family and his team for a long time, and there is no greater supporter of the Jewish people and the Jewish state than President Donald Trump,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we should put that to rest.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s hardly a salve to an American Jewish community dealing almost weekly with unsettling echoes of past slights and intolerance\u00a0\u2013 most recently when the White House\u00a0omitted any mention of Jews from a Holocaust commemorative statement.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Greenblatt, the Anti-Defamation League CEO, reacting to Trump\u2019s statement, did not mention Netanyahu, but was clearly not in a mood to put anything to rest. Trump \u201cmissed an opportunity to decry the rhetoric of hate that seems to be surging online and in the real world,\u201d he said. \u201cIntentional or not, this emboldens anti-Semites.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netanyahu has for his entire career asked Diaspora Jews to defer to Israel on matters that threaten it; it\u2019s why he expected the organized community to fall in during his contentions with the Obama administration over the Iran nuclear deal.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a two-way street: If Netanyahu, as he has said in the past, speaks not just for Israelis, but for the Jewish people, there\u2019s a natural expectation that he should listen to them.<\/p>\n
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