“All countries need alliances; superpowers need alliances,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a May 14 event marking the first anniversary of the US Embassy's move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “Obviously a small country — small in territory, giant in spirit — a country like Israel needs alliances, too.” The prime minister then went on to list Israel’s inventory of allies, leading with the United States and President Donald Trump, “Israel’s best ever friend in the White House.” Netanyahu’s list also included the Arab world, Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The “greatness of spirit” of little Israel, an occupying power, is obviously the basis for the alliance with the Egyptian champion of human rights, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, for whom Adolf Hitler was a source of inspiration. Chad’s President Idriss Deby and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, both well-known democrats, have also visited Jerusalem in recent months.

And why did Europe disappear from Netanyahu’s list? In 2017, Netanyahu famously labeled the European Union’s attitude toward Israel as “crazy,” but what about his central European allies? Why was Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban not mentioned? After all, Hungary seems to be closely aligned with Israel in terms of xenophobia, a sentiment shared by the government in Budapest and Netanyahu’s own son Yair. How could Netanyahu have forgotten Mateusz Morawiecki, whose blind support for Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories won Poland a pardon for its crimes against the Jewish people? It's hard to believe Netanyahu's memory has betrayed him to such an extent.

The answer lies in these allies’ failure to deliver the goods. Netanyahu has ignored and even cooperated with their anti-Semitic deviations, serving as their advocate at the White House and in Congress, while they refuse to move their embassies to Jerusalem. Much to Netanyahu’s chagrin, at the last minute the so-called Visegrad States (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) canceled their annual summit scheduled to take place in Jerusalem this past February.