Netanyahu’s Florida trip followed a fiery address to a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday that defended his far-right government’s conduct of the war and condemned American protesters galvanised by the killing of more than 39,000 Palestinians in the conflict.

On Thursday, Netanyahu had met in Washington with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Both pressed the Israeli leader to work quickly to wrap up a deal to bring a cease-fire and release hostages.

Netanyahu is increasingly accused at home of prolonging the war to stave off the collapse of his government when the conflict ends. For Trump, now the Republican presidential nominee, the meeting was a chance to be cast as an ally and statesman, as well as to sharpen efforts by Republicans to portray themselves as the party most loyal to Israel.

Divisions among Americans over US support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza have opened cracks in years of strong bipartisan backing for Israel, the biggest recipient of US aid. For Netanyahu, repairing relations with Trump is imperative given the prospect that Trump may once again become president of the US, which is Israel’s vital arms supplier and protector.

One political gamble for Netanyahu is whether he could get more of the terms he wants in any deal on a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release, and in his much hoped-for closing of a normalisation deal with Saudi Arabia, if he waits out the Biden administration in hopes that Trump wins.

“Benjamin Netanyahu has spent much of his career in the last two decades in tethering himself to the Republican Party,” said Aaron David Miller, a former US diplomat for Arab-Israeli negotiations, now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. For the next six months, that means “mending ties with an irascible, angry president,” Miller said, meaning Trump.

Trump broke off with Netanyahu in early 2021. That was after the Israeli prime minister became one of the first world leaders to congratulate Biden for his presidential election victory, disregarding Trump’s false claim he had won. “Bibi could have stayed quiet,” Trump said in an interview with an Israel newspaper back then. “He made a terrible mistake.”

Netanyahu and Trump last met at a September 2020 White House signing ceremony for the signature diplomatic achievement of both men’s political careers. It was an accord brokered by the Trump administration in which the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed to establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel. For Israel, it amounted to the two countries formally recognising it for the first time.

In public postings and statements after his break with Netanyahu, Trump portrayed himself as having stuck his neck out for Israel as president, and Netanyahu paying him back with disloyalty. He has also criticised Netanyahu on other points, faulting him as “not prepared” for the October 7 Hamas attacks that started the war in Gaza, for example.

In his high-profile speech to Congress on Wednesday, Netanyahu gave recognition to Biden, who has kept up military and diplomatic support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza despite opposition from within his Democratic Party.

But Netanyahu poured praise on Trump, calling the regional accords Trump helped broker historic and thanking him “for all the things he did for Israel.” Netanyahu listed actions by the Trump administration long-sought by Israeli governments - the US officially saying Israel had sovereignty over the Golan Heights, captured from Syria during a 1967 war; a tougher US policy toward Iran; and Trump declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel, breaking with longstanding US policy that Jerusalem’s status should be decided in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

He didn’t quiet his criticism, however, of Israel’s conduct of the war, which has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians. “I want him to finish up and get it done quickly. You gotta get it done quickly, because they are getting decimated with this publicity,” Trump said. “Israel is not very good at public relations, I’ll tell you that.” Trump has repeatedly urged that Israel with US support “finish the job” in Gaza and destroy Hamas, but he hasn’t elaborated on how.

AP