Trailed by legal woes, Netanyahu to meet ‘true friend’ Trump

Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have a brief respite next week from the deluge of legal woes he faces when he heads to Washington to meet US President Donald Trump.

Even as he prepared for his trip, Netanyahu was again questioned by police in Jerusalem on Friday in connection with alleged corruption as concerns mount over whether he will eventually be forced from office.

Monday’s visit to a White House that has shown enthusiastic support for Israel and Netanyahu may help bolster the long-serving prime minister, who has called Trump a “true friend” of his country.

Both men have used populist appeals in the face of investigations, with Netanyahu borrowing Trump’s “fake news” moniker to denounce reports of his alleged corruption.

Israeli police recommended last month that Netanyahu be indicted in two corruption cases and investigations are continuing in others.

“I think they are partners in ideology, and the ideology is a populist, conservative ideology which says that the old liberal elites are against us,” said Gayil Talshir, political scientist at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.

“I think from that perspective it is a boost” for Netanyahu.

But Trump has given Netanyahu far more than moral support.

The United States is set to upturn decades of international consensus when it moves its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the disputed city of Jerusalem in May.

Trump has also frozen tens of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians in a bid to force them to the negotiating table.

Both moves have left the Palestinian leadership outraged, accusing Trump’s administration of blatant bias and declaring it can no longer serve as mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

That, along with Trump son-in-law and senior aide Jared Kushner losing his top-level security clearance, has raised questions over whether Trump’s pledge to reach the “ultimate” peace deal will get off the ground any time soon.

Kushner has been among those heading up the White House’s efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.