Analysis: America's 51st state? US pressure comes to bear on Israel

"The presence of the US officials in Israel has been described as babysitting designed to twist the arm of a far-right government itching to find any excuse to relaunch the war, which killed more than 68,000 Palestinians. And so far, the administration of US President Donald Trump appears to have largely succeeded, highlighting what some analysts deem to be Israeli subservience to the US, and an acknowledgment that when Washington orders Israel to do something, the latter will ultimately agree."

"Now the Trump administration is leveraging that support and doing what is a rare occurrence when it comes to relations between the two countries: forcing Israel to act according to the US's wishes, and making public Washington's pressure on Israel. Some of that has come from Trump himself in an interview published by Time Magazine on Thursday, the US president said that he had stopped Netanyahu from continuing the Gaza war."

"Of course, Israel is a client state of the US, Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador and consul general in New York, told Al Jazeera. Pinkas referred to the billions of dollars Israel receives from the US in aid, the dozens of times Washington uses its veto to protect Israel from criticism or sanction at the United Nations, and its military protection of Israel."

A succession of high-ranking US officials visited Israel to prevent the collapse of a US-backed Gaza ceasefire and to ensure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government did not withdraw from the agreement. The visits included a special envoy, a presidential adviser, the vice president, and the secretary of state, all focused on maintaining the ceasefire. Observers described the presence as babysitting intended to twist the arm of a far-right Israeli government poised to relaunch the war that killed more than 68,000 Palestinians. Washington leveraged aid, repeated UN vetoes, and military protection to pressure Israel, and President Trump publicly claimed he stopped Netanyahu from continuing the war.

Read at www.aljazeera.com