Donald Trump He wants to say goodbye to 2025 with a great diplomatic triumph under his arm. After meeting with Volodímir Zelenski on Sunday to discuss his plan paz to Ukrainethe president of USA you will receive today in your mansion Mar-a-Lago to his friend, the Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
The long-awaited meeting between both leaders will serve to address the stranded second phase of the truce between Israel y Hamasa blockage that is having agonizing effects on Gaza. The agreement, approved by the Security Council of the HIMprovides for the reconstruction of the demilitarized Palestinian enclave under international supervision, as well as a series of ambitious and complicated objectives whose achievement is uncertain.
For Netanyahu, however, his fifth meeting of the year with Trump comes at an especially critical point. In 2026, the Israeli leader faces a series of crucial decisions that will determine his political future and, therefore, that of the Jewish statea country he has commanded intermittently over three erratic decades.
Your political future at stake
The first, and perhaps most crucial to understanding his maneuvers, is that his position is at stake. Israel celebrates elections legislative elections in October next year. Even so, the tensions with the ultraortodoxos and disagreements within his coalition government with conservatives, ultranationalists, fundamentalists and Jewish supremacists could force early elections.
The electoral prospects are not optimistic for Netanyahu. Since October 2023, when a security error allowed Hamas to launch a devastating wave of attacks that killed more than 1,200 people, polls show that he and his allies have fallen short of the 61-seat majority needed to govern in the Knessetthe Israeli parliament. Although his party, the Likudwould continue winning, the opposition yes I would be able to add the votes necessary to dethrone ‘Bibi’, according to a recent Haaretz poll.
Archivo – FILED – 07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump (L) receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara at the South Portico of the White House. Photo: Daniel Torok/White House/dpa – This official White House pho / Daniel Torok/White House/dpa – Archivo
Alliance with Trump
Given this unflattering scenario, Netanyahu’s trip to USA can be understood as “the initial act of his campaign of re-election“, points out Tal Shalev, CNN correspondent in Israel. As in 2019, Trump can play a crucial role in promoting his ally. “The American president is going to be a central figure, if not the main one, in Netanyahu’s re-election strategy,” explained political strategist Nadav Shtrauchler, who worked in the past for the Israeli ‘premier’.
Through promises and flattery, Netanyahu intends to use Trump to accelerate his agenda. And, with support from 76% of Israeli society according to a Gallup poll, the influence of the Republican in the politics of the Jewish State is overwhelming. After publicly asking the Israeli president Isaac Herzog to pardon Netanyahu for the charges of corruption faces, the prime minister’s team used that momentum to activate a campaign of pardon. His criminal trial on charges of bribery y fraud It adds more pressure to your maneuvers.
More war
During his visit, Netanyahu will try to convince Trump “that only the threat of war can bring peace,” notes The Times of Israel. The Israeli prime minister believes that, after six governments that have lasted 18 years, his plan to shape Near East and bending it to their interests has not yet materialized. Analysts consulted by The New York Times point out that his great ambition is to leave as a legacy an Israel without external threats, which would mean eradicating its enemies or reaching out to historical rivals such as Saudi Arabia. That explains why he intends to hold on to the position until he reaches that goal.
In Netanyahu’s crosshairs are Hamas, the Lebanese militia Hezbollah e Iranall of them shared enemies with the US. However, some of the attacks recently launched by Israel have sparked outrage among authorities in Washingtonupset by the risk that this perpetual war fueled by Netanyahu will undermine Trump’s plans for the region. At the beginning of the month, the conservative administration demanded that Jerusalem not interfere in Syriawhere he supports the former commander of Al Qaeda became president Ahmad al-Sharaa. “‘Bibi’ sees ghosts everywhere,” a senior US official explained to Axios. “We’re trying to tell him that he has to stop doing this because if he continues, he will self-destruct.”
Israel let in only 41% of necessary aid in 80 days of truce, says Gaza Government / Archive
Despite their ironclad alliance, all of these factors mean that the growing differences between both leaders could exacerbate in 2026. The deterioration of their relationship could also make it difficult for Netanyahu to gain Trump’s support on certain points, The Washington Post warns.
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