Netanyahu’s old friend becomes Trump’s new ally

Over the past few days, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been trying to lower expectations surrounding US President Donald Trump's visit to Israel, which is scheduled for May 22 (an official announcement about the visit has yet to be made). A source within Netanyahu’s inner circle commented that Netanyahu will not agree to negotiate terms for moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He also said that a statement recognizing Jerusalem as the united capital of Israel is just as important as actually moving the embassy.

However, the embassy issue is not what is keeping Netanyahu up at night; he is more concerned about the "ultimate deal" that Trump keeps mentioning. Netanyahu is worried that Trump could drop a new "package deal" on his desk. The problem is that the prime minister lacks the coalition, energy and desire to deal with a new diplomatic process, especially one that is faster, more chaotic and more challenging than the last one.