Before Benjamin Netanyahu says a word at the White House tomorrow, Donald Trump will already know the argument. He will know the warnings about Iran, the appeal to Israel’s survival and, almost certainly, the suggestion that only Trump has the strength to finish what others could not.

Netanyahu knows Trump’s argument, too. He knows the president wants the fighting ended, the Strait of Hormuz reopened and an agreement carrying one unmistakable signature: Donald J. Trump’s. He also knows Trump does not want to look as though the prime minister of Israel is setting American policy.

That is what makes tomorrow’s expected meeting so dangerous—and so compelling. Each man needs the other. Each also needs the cameras outside the room to believe he does not.

Netanyahu is approaching an Israeli election while trailing in the polls. He needs to return home with proof that, despite recent tensions, he remains the Israeli leader best able to influence Trump. Trump is heading toward the American midterms after an unpopular war that many Americans believe Israel drew the United States into. He needs to demonstrate that he—not Netanyahu, not Tehran and not events—is in command.

Both men need the meeting. Neither can afford to look as though he needs it more.

The policy disagreement is serious. Trump appears interested in an agreement that ends the fighting and restores movement through the Strait of Hormuz. Netanyahu fears that such an agreement could preserve the Iranian regime, leave its nuclear ambitions unresolved and require Israel to confront the same threat again after a temporary pause. For Netanyahu, the test of any agreement will not be whether it ends this round of fighting, but whether it prevents Iran from using the pause to rebuild the capabilities that made the fighting necessary. The report describes sharp divergence: Washington is searching for an exit while Jerusalem may still see renewed........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)