Netanyahu-Trump partnership is stronger than ever. Are these its final days?

In the United States, Netanyahu’s new alliance with a racist Israeli fringe party is already freeing Democrats to denounce him with fewer concerns about Republican blowback. And in a matter of months, the criminal case against Netanyahu could dislodge him from power once and for all.

By David M. Halbfinger

In his increasingly uphill re-election battle, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s secret weapon is no secret. It’s President Donald Trump.

Giant campaign billboards went up in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem a month ago showing the prime minister and the president shaking hands and grinning under the words “A Different League,” implicitly dismissing Netanyahu’s challengers as amateurs. Hours before Israel’s attorney general announced his intention to indict Netanyahu on corruption charges last month, Trump told reporters in Vietnam that the Israeli leader was “tough, smart, strong” and had “done a great job as prime minister.”

And last Monday, the Pentagon announced a small, temporary U.S. troop deployment in Israel. By Wednesday, Netanyahu — barred under an anti-propaganda law from exploiting Israeli soldiers as campaign props — had circulated a video and snapshots showing him surrounded by U.S. troops instead.