A DIVIDED Israel is following Mr Netanyahu's fortunes in the US with almost obsessive fascination; well served by state and commercial radio and television stations that have been interrupting regular programming to relay every major and minor development.
Those Israeli commentators fundamentally well disposed to Mr Netanyahu's policies yesterday expressed admiration for the way he determinedly reiterated his preelection pledges at Tuesday's joint press conference with President Clinton.
He demanded that Syria cease sponsoring terrorism as a first step towards peacemaking with Damascus; agreed to meet the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, only if this was vital to Israel's interests; eschewed a specific commitment to an immediate troops withdrawal from Hebron; and asserted the Jewish right to settlement in the West Bank.
"PM makes no concessions to Clinton," ran the headline in the pro-Netanyahu daily Jerusalem Post.
Equally, politicians and analysts opposed to the new prime minister expressed disappointment at the continuing hard line. Mr Yossi Beilin, a minister in the previous Labour-led government, said the body language at the press conference reminded him of a meeting between Mr Clinton and President Hafez al-Assad of Syria two years ago, with two men mouthing niceties that barely concealed their differences.
What was unmistakable was that, in contrast to the shared peacemaking vision of the Clinton administration and the previous Israeli government, here were two leaders that, for all their personal similarities, have conflicting world views.
"A Chilly Embrace" was how the best-selling tabloid Yediot Ahronot headlined their meeting, with an editorial article noting: "It seems the two have agreed, like gentlemen, in friendship, to differ but not to fight."
Throughout yesterday, rumours circulated here that Mr Netanyahu had been making last minute adjustments to his well-received speech before Congress. And it was noticeable that, in this address, he toned down his previous criticisms of Syria, steered clear of the vexed settlement issue, and stressed his desire for progress with the Palestinians.
In Gaza, though, the speech brought an immediate angry response from a Palestinian spokesman, Mr Marwan Kanafani, who accused the Israeli prime minister of lying in asserting that the Palestinians sought to divide Jerusalem.
That was not the case, he said. The Palestinians saw Jerusalem as a united city, serving as a capital for both Palestinians and Israelis.