The close personal relationship between Trump and Netanyahu is neither unknown, nor hidden, nor reprehensible. Benjamin Netanyahu was not coincidentally the first official visit by a foreign leader to the White House since Donald Trump took office as the 47th President of the United States. Trump also for whom “America First” is a cornerstone of politics and not just a successful political “quote” did not randomly choose to “freeze” for even two days the signatures on presidential decrees, the majority of which concern the interior of his country, in order to present his “ambitious” – for some unworkable and extreme – plan for American ownership of Gaza and the expulsion of nearly 2 million Palestinians from the enclave in the Eastern Mediterranean.

But how Israel’s unyielding prime minister was transformed in a matter of months from the number one headache for US diplomacy under Joe Biden to a loyal follower and ambassador of the new US foreign policy in the Middle East is a matter that deserves a second look.

Benjamin Netanyahu from October 7, 2023 and the “Black Sabbath” made it clear that Israel will not stop unless Hamas and those who organized, executed and supported the terrorist attack with 1200 dead in Israeli territory pay the price. Biden’s US not only did not leave Tel Aviv uncovered but Joe Biden became the first US President in the political history of the US to visit Israel in the midst of war. Under draconian security measures, the 46th US President had publicly made it clear that Tel Aviv had an absolute right to defend itself and had personally undertaken the cost and commitment that the US would not stop supplying the highly effective but also very expensive missiles to the local Iron Dome.

The turn of events and the way Netanyahu has chosen to manage the crisis has brought the White House and the State Department to its limits many times… Netanyahu’s choice to support the extreme positions of his far-right partners for the razing of Gaza put the very Israeli hostages that Hamas still holds in its hands in second place… Gaza was flattened, but the massive demonstrations every week in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem also flattened the approval ratings for the country’s own Prime Minister. But Netanyahu has not been deterred by his historic low in popularity, nor by the calls – initially – and later suffocating pressure from Anthony Blinken for a debate on the next day in the region. Netanyahu has been “vividly” described through leaks from the former US Secretary of State’s entourage as “obsessive” and intransigent, going so far as to take Joe Biden to the point of imposing a long term “freeze” on the shipment of weapons systems to Tel Aviv and sanctions on settlers in the occupied West Bank. For Netanyahu in the midst of unprecedented pressure from abroad and at home, the straw that broke the camel’s back seems to have been the US’s choice to talk without even hiding it with Opposition leader Beni Ganj rather than with him. But Netanyahu bet on far-right support at home and on Trump’s electoral victory outside the country and was vindicated in both high-risk “bets.”

But how much does Trump’s friendship cost?

It is clear to everyone, including in the Middle East, that if Israel has proven in recent months through its military might that it remains the dominant power in the region now with Donald Trump things will tilt even further to Tel Aviv’s side. Friendly relations are key for the US President and his close friends worldwide always have a way of reaching the oval office directly and without intermediaries and “formalities”. Given first among them is Benjamin Netanyahu. Donald Trump, however, has a “signboard” on which he is in the habit of placing an amount next to every person outside his family, depending on his judgment. Trump’s speech last week from the White House after the meeting with Netanyahu and the revelation that the US would have total control – in fact, ownership and possession – of Gaza seemed to be the price for befriending “Bibi”. Trump wants to turn the enclave into an investment project identical to the dozens he has developed around the world from Ireland to Turkey. Businessman Trump sees no obstacles in front of him and insists there is nothing wrong with someone who will rebuild even for his own benefit and without giving the right to its rightful owners to return to a zone where over time more blood has been spilled than drinking water. The fact that the American President has received neither publicly nor, it seems, privately any objection from Tel Aviv, which under Netanyahu – and to be fair not only – has demanded sometimes forcefully and publicly and sometimes in silence the definitive expulsion and a second definitive Nahba for the Palestinians probably shows that today Israel is settling for one of the two demands – that is, the expulsion of every Palestinian.

Structural elements of democracy and balance that have been time-tested and tested over time and in extreme situations such as international law do not seem to be an issue for Trump. But if the same is the case with Netanyahu, then suddenly the price that the Prime Minister of Israel has to pay is also being passed on to his country, a country that does not belong to him but has elected him to represent it. In any case, even today there are things that are impossible to put a value on in terms of numbers and amounts. It is a given that Israel and history itself will not forgive the fact that in the name of a “friendship” the Israelis will be asked to pay for a “dinner” in which the main “dish” includes practices of evacuation of territories and uprooting of almost two million people.