Donald Trump piles pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu with diplomatic blitz

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As a procession of senior US officials visited Israel this week, Benjamin Netanyahu endured an awkward moment. Standing alongside vice-president JD Vance, the Israeli prime minister was asked whether his nation had become a US client state.

“Hogwash,” Netanyahu retorted. “We have a partnership, an alliance.”

The exchange underlined the mood in Israel: Washington is now calling the shots, as Donald Trump steps up pressure on Netanyahu’s far-right government to stick with his fragile Gaza ceasefire deal — one Israel was reluctantly coerced into accepting.

The US this week launched an unusually intense blitz of heavyweight diplomacy, as it shifts attention to the critical second stage of Trump’s 20-point plan to end the two-year war.

Vance, US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — Trump’s son-in-law and one of the main architects of the deal — all visited, while secretary of state Marco Rubio landed hours after the vice-president departed on Thursday.

“The US is running the show,” said a person familiar with the Israeli government’s thinking. “The US understands that they can’t just leave [Trump’s plan] and let Israel run it.”