Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have learned a thing or two from his frenzied attempts to mobilize the US Congress against the nuclear deal with Iran behind US President Barack Obama’s back. Netanyahu is now waging a battle to foil recognition of a Palestinian state by the UN Security Council during the period between the November elections in the United States and the presidential inauguration in January.

The prime minister has chosen to ignore the Sept. 22 prediction US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro made in a Channel 10 interview that the Obama administration is likely to promote an initiative at the United Nations or in another diplomatic forum that could contribute to a peace effort to be continued by the next administration. Netanyahu undoubtedly noticed that the senior US diplomat, who has been privy to discussions on this issue at the highest levels, promised only that Obama would strenuously oppose a unilateral move against Israel and an attempt to delegitimize it. His promise in no way ensures an American veto of a proposed European, Russian, Chinese or Arab resolution calling for recognition of a Palestinian state coexisting in peace and security alongside the State of Israel.

Netanyahu nonetheless kept his cool when asked in a television interview about Shapiro’s scenario of an Obama initiative. “To date, [Obama] has not done so,” Netanyahu said. “I expect and hope that the US will adhere to this consistent policy.” Netanyahu also did not make a big deal out of the Sept. 23 statement by the Middle East Quartet, which described Israel’s West Bank settlements as a grave danger to the two-state solution and an obstacle to peace. Make no mistake, however. Netanyahu has not become a Washington goody two-shoes. He has simply moved from center stage to the wings.

Netanyahu has 88 of the 100 US senators hitched to his wagon. This bipartisan group wrote Obama on Sept. 19 demanding that he veto any unilateral move at the UN Security Council in the coming months on a permanent arrangement concerning the territories that Israel controls or its settlements. That is how things work when you have billionaire friends like gambling tycoon Sheldon Adelson and you have at your disposal a powerful lobbying group like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The letter has been posted on the website of the American Israel Public Affairs Committe (AIPAC), and supporters are urged to distribute it far and wide. Among its signatories is the Democratic vice presidential candidate, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va).