Travel Warning 

Veteran envoy Gilad Erdan on Bibi’s D.C. trip

I heard that insight on the return flight from one of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Washington visits (a win) during President Donald Trump’s first term. I’ve been there for Netanyahu’s meetings with three different US presidents, two of them Democrats — but it was only in the presence of the Republican president seen as his greatest ally that the prime minister’s body language showed genuine fear. Trump’s warm embrace could turn into a backbreaking bear hug at any moment.

On the eve of Netanyahu’s flight to Washington for Trump’s first visit by a foreign leader in his second term, I sat down with Gilad Erdan, who accompanied Netanyahu on past trips and has served as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations and Washington.

You recently completed your term as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, during part of which you served concurrently as the ambassador to Washington. You’re someone who led Israel’s diplomatic corps while staying  connected to Israeli politics. What does Netanyahu need to do to return from Washington with the best possible result and avoid splintering his coalition?

“The best result would be to agree with Trump on how to complete the deal to bring back our kidnapped brothers and sisters, while reaching an understanding on the circumstances under which America will back us to resume the war until Hamas is destroyed.”

You’re talking about resuming the war as a certainty. Don’t you think Hamas will want a pause of two to three years to rebuild itself? What interest does it have in blowing up the deal?

“There’s no scenario in which not a single rocket is fired from the Gaza Strip, whether by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or rogue elements. There’s no scenario in which there isn’t a terrorist who takes action that would justify the resumption of the war. So grounds will certainly exist, and perhaps a precondition for the resumption of the fighting is President Trump’s initiative, something for which many of us have hoped for many years — to encourage [Arab] emigration from the Gaza Strip.”