With regard to the presidential campaign in the United States, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finds himself in the position he hates most: irrelevance.

In the 2012 elections, Netanyahu assiduously helped Republican candidate Mitt Romney. His close associate, gambling tycoon Sheldon Adelson, contributed tens of millions of dollars to the Republican campaign, and Netanyahu’s confidant Ron Dermer (who later became Israeli ambassador in Washington) operated a supportive network within the US Jewish community.

In the 2008 election campaign, Netanyahu was not yet prime minister, but secretly prayed for the victory of Republican candidate John McCain over the enigma that was Barack Obama.

This time, Netanyahu is helpless. Together with Adelson, Netanyahu sought the “right” candidate on the Republican side and preferred Marco Rubio. But he found himself, like America and the rest of the world, with something else altogether. Donald Trump caught Netanyahu and his people unprepared. Trump is not a “Beltway” man, he’s a total outsider. No one knows what to do with him, how to work with him and what the rules of the game are now.