Two words — “history” and “opportunity”— stand out in stark relief from the Jan. 25 public declarations by Israeli interim Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the eve of his departure for Washington: “I'm leaving for Washington …and I'm hopeful we can make history”; “An opportunity such as this comes once in history and cannot be missed”; “I am full of hope that we are on the verge of a historic moment in the annals of our state”; “I am leaving for Washington with a sense of great mission, of great responsibility and of great opportunity.” Netanyahu's political rival, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, was more restrained and made do with using the word “historic” only once. The American blueprint, Gantz said at a Jan. 25 news conference in announcing that he, too, would travel to Washington to meet with President Donald Trump, was a “meaningful milestone, setting out the path for the sides to the Middle East conflict to march toward a regional, historic deal.”
Netanyahu was not exaggerating. This is the first time in the history of the Israeli state that such a blatant and obvious move has been undertaken to mobilize a foreign leader, Trump, for the election campaign of a ruling Israeli party, the Likud. Indeed, the political ploy known as the “deal of the century” was designed to provide a unique opportunity to remove Netanyahu’s corruption indictment from the headlines. Gantz managed to avoid this political trap that Netanyahu and his White House partners had set for him. Netanyahu’s talk about a “great mission” and “great responsibility,” and his warning that Israel must not miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime offer did not deter Gantz from another mission: his fight to ensure that the Knesset rejects Netanyahu’s corrupt request for immunity from prosecution.