With weeks to go until Israel’s election, the Trump-Netanyahu peace plan unveiling couldn’t be more perfectly timed

Just ahead of the crucial vote, Israel’s prime minister got to join hands with the US leader on the world stage, drawing attention away from corruption charges

Trump and Netanyahu unveil the peace plan at the White House (Reuters)

The unveiling of Donald Trump’s peace plan to resolve the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was, as one commentator messaged me, “peak Bibi”.

A few weeks before a general election, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, stood beaming side by side with close friend Mr Trump, looking victorious – despite the fact that moments before he had been formally indicted back home on corruption charges in three cases.

Mr Netanyahu declared the deal, which was drafted without any participation from the Palestinians, to be the “best for Israel”, a point analysts largely agreed with: it was the most pro-Israeli vision of a post-conflict Israel and Palestine to come out of Washington.