Is the Trump-Bibi Bromance More Rhetorical than Real?

UANI Policy Director Jason Brodsky writes: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will roll into Washington bloodied and bruised from a corruption scandal which is quickly eating alive his inner circle. Despite the domestic turmoil, we’ll likely hear that there is no daylight—anymore—in the U.S.-Israeli relationship. Yet tensions over Syria—namely the contours of the mission and the dimensions of the de-escalation zones—and Iran are lurking beneath the glad-handing, goodwill, and graciousness. President Trump has positioned himself as the anti-Obama—anything President Obama was for, he is against—and that has become the organizing principle of his personal foreign-policy brand. Such a dynamic extends to Israel. It started during the transition in December 2016, when Trump opposed the Obama administration’s closing act on Israel in abstaining from a United Nations Security Council condemning the Jewish state over settlements. At the time he tweeted “[Israel] used to have a great friend in the United States, but . . . not anymore. The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal and now this (UN)! Stay strong Israel, January 20 is fast approaching!” Fast-forward to 2018, and the president is still trying to be anything but Obama. At the Conservative Political Action Conference last weekend, the raison d’être of his presidency was on full display—this time concerning recognition of Jerusalem, bragging that he took action after his predecessors kicked the can down the road."