Trump, Netanyahu coordination goes beyond Iran deal
Having coordinated the US repudiation of the Iranian nuclear deal with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump has also offered Netanyahu "full and total" US military and diplomatic support in case of a regional war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his associates are applauding the May 8 announcement by President Donald Trump to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear agreement.
“There is only one thing that isn’t clear,” one of the people closest to Netanyahu told Al-Monitor, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “That is, who works for whom? Does Netanyahu work for Trump, or is President Trump at the service of Netanyahu?”
From the outside, at least, upon close inspection, it looks like the two men are perfectly in sync. From the inside, this seems even more so. When it comes to the US administration’s recent actions, the people in Netanyahu’s inner circle knew exactly what would happen and when, and they have known it for the past few weeks. No one in Jerusalem was surprised by Trump’s statement. It almost seemed as if the president’s speech had been written in Hebrew and only then translated into English.
“There has always been close coordination between the Israeli and the American defense establishments,” a senior Israeli defense official told Al-Monitor, also speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Intelligence coordination has also gotten stronger over the past few years, but the current story is a whole different ballgame. This kind of cooperation between the two leaders and their two offices — the Oval Office in the White House and the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem — sometimes makes it seem as if they are actually just one single, large office.”
