Michelle Kellerman

The same is true in Lebanon, where Hezbollah remains a threat.

And then there's Iran.

You can remember that President Trump ordered massive strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities this year.

Well, the Israelis now say that Iran is building up its ballistic missile stockpile.

So Netanyahu wants to keep Trump on his side on all three of these fronts.

Well, one thing to watch is whether he's going to announce his board of peace or any of the steps toward getting an international force into Gaza.

One Israeli analyst who was a national security advisor under previous prime ministers, Eyal Hulata, says that, you know, Trump's approach has been in the past, announce big things before they're a reality.

So we'll see if it can do that trick again.

The Israelis are also very conscious of the criticism they're facing from parts of Trump's MAGA movement.

So that's something else that's driving Netanyahu to speak directly to Trump today.

He needs this relationship for his own domestic purposes.

Yeah, I mean, the Israelis say that that's a stable Muslim region that's been autonomous for more than 30 years.

It's a strategic place if you look at threats coming from Yemen.

Now, a lot of countries in the Arab world, though, are worried about something else, that the Israelis may be looking for a place to send Palestinians from Gaza.

Somaliland and Israel are downplaying that.

But Somalia and 20 other countries are protesting Israel's recognition.

And this is going to be a topic for an emergency security council meeting later today.

Somalia is on the security council and taking over the presidency in January.

That is NPR's Michelle Kellman from Jerusalem.

More than 20 Arab and African states have joined Somalia in condemning the move, calling Israel's recognition a blatant disregard to international law.