JERUSALEM — Israel’s third election campaign in a year has started with all the usual elements, the speeches, the rallies, the posters. And Thursday came another occurrence Israelis have come to expect: a move by President Trump that roils the campaign, seemingly for the advantage of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump’s surprise White House invitation for Netanyahu and his opponent, Benny Gantz, to come review Trump’s long-awaited Middle East peace plan next week is viewed here as the third Trump Surprise in three elections.
Both the timing of the trip — scheduled for the very day Netanyahu faces a pivotal procedure in his controversial request for parliamentary immunity against corruption charges — and the reported right-wing tilt of the proposal are widely viewed as boons for Netanyahu and traps for Gantz.
The “Deal of the Century” has become the “Gift of the Century,” declared the Israeli daily Ha’aretz.
Netanyahu accepted enthusiastically as soon as Vice President Pence, in Israel for a Holocaust commemoration, delivered Trump’s invitation Thursday night. Further, Pence gave Netanyahu credit for magnanimously extending the invitation to include Gantz in the personal White House briefing.
Gantz, the former Israeli army chief of staff, has yet to comment publicly on the invitation and is expected to announce Saturday whether he will make the trip or not.
Gantz had recently warned Trump that debuting the proposal in the middle of the campaign would amount to a “gross intervention” in the election. But if he declines, he may be seen as snubbing a plan expected to heavily favor Israel’s side in the decades-long conflict with the Palestinians, who have refused to even meet with the White House team crafting the proposal. He would also be ceding a coveted White House handshake with Trump, who is widely popular among voters here, to his rival.
According to diplomats who have heard the plan described by White House officials, the proposal will allow Israel to incorporate large Jewish settlements in the West Bank into Israel proper and give Israel security oversight of the West Bank while giving Palestinians greater political autonomy and a potential path to sovereignty.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was reportedly not invited to the White House meeting.
Trump’s two previous pre-election cameos, which included embracing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights and touting a potential U.S.-Israeli defense pact, were widely seen as intended to boost Netanyahu, at least in their timing.
The prime minister has largely based his reelection campaigns on his ability to push Trump ever closer to toward the platform of the Netanyahu’s Likud Party, from moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem to dropping the view that settlements inherently violate international law.
Netanyahu failed to win a governing coalition in either previous election and rumors have been rampant that Trump’s peace plan would finally see the light of day before Israel goes back to the polls for a third go. The plan has reportedly been complete for months as the administration waited in vain for a new government to form in Jerusalem.
Now, Trump has scheduled a mini-summit on the plan for Tuesday, the very day that the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, is set to take up Netanyahu’s request for immunity on counts of bribery, fraud and breach of trust stemming from his past dealings with business interests.
Netanyahu, the first Israeli prime minister ever indicted while in office, had recently demanded formal protection from what he disparages as a “witch hunt” prosecution. But after it became clear that he would lose such a vote in the current parliament, his Likud allies have fought to no avail to stall the procedure, storming out of committee meetings and seeking court intervention.
Gantz’s Blue and White party, which has doggedly pushed for the immunity vote and a chance to embarrass the prime minister, must now decide whether to postpone it while Netanyahu is in Washington.
“There is no question that [Netanyahu supporters] with close ties to the White House tailored this event to fit Netanyahu’s dimensions,” a Gantz adviser told the Ma’ariv newspaper.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-israel-election-politics-again-runs-through-the-oval-office/2020/01/25/b9d15880-3f7f-11ea-afe2-090eb37b60b1_story.html
2020-01-25 16:13:00Z
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