ABSTRACT
During his tenure as Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has dealt with three American presidents: Bill Clinton (1996–1999), Barack Obama (2009–2017), and Donald Trump (2017–). This chapter will examine Netanyahu’s relationship with all three. It will first analyze the lessons that Netanyahu may have learned from his experience with Bill Clinton and will then deal with the ups and downs of Netanyahu’s dealings with Obama, who, while providing Israel with record amounts of military assistance, frequently clashed with Netanyahu over Israel’s program of settlement expansion in the West Bank. Netanyahu had a much easier time dealing with Donald Trump, who, after first stating that Israel would have to make concessions for peace, went on to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and cut aid to the Palestinians, all the time promising the “Deal of the Century” to settle the Israel-Palestinian conflict. However, by December 2018, no such deal had been presented.
