When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu withdrew his request for immunity on Jan. 28, he already knew that he had lost the battle and that he would not be getting immunity. Later that day, at 7:00 p.m. Israeli time, Netanyahu stood beside President Donald Trump at the White House and laid out his legacy for posterity. With that, he reshuffled the deck for the next round of Israeli elections in March.
Trump's plan for resolving the conflict with the Palestinians — which Netanyahu helped shape over the last three years and is commonly referred to the “deal of the century” — has made history. Not only does it shatter the paradigm of the Oslo Accords, the diplomatic basis over the past three decades for everything done in this regard by successive Israeli governments and the United States. The plan also redraws Israel’s borders for generations to come, if only de facto and unilaterally.