Bibi Hits a Hole in One

E

ven a brilliant Israeli campaign strategist flush with Qatari cash could not have bought a campaign launch as effective as the one Netanyahu received at Trump’s New Year gala.

A pronouncement like Trump’s — that had the great leader Netanyahu not stood at Israel’s helm during wartime, the country would no longer exist — is not like anything we’ve heard in the past two years, not even on Channel 14, the Fox News-on-steroids of the Israeli right. Had a shofar blast sounded at such decibels, the Movement for Quality Government, ever eager to petition against every government move, would presumably have rushed to the High Court demanding an end to the propaganda broadcasts.

All that was missing was for the president to conclude with a familiar Hebrew maxim from the sources: Vote Netanyahu and be forgiven; forgive and vote Netanyahu. And perhaps that, too, will yet happen — when the American president lands in the Holy Land to receive the Israel Prize, just months before the next elections (should they indeed be brought forward, as increasingly seems likely).

Trump is broadcasting a clear message to the Israeli voter: The strongest man in the world sees Netanyahu as the only leader capable of preserving and strengthening Israel’s most critical asset — its relationship with the United States. Against such election propaganda, no High Court justice will be able to issue a stop order.