It has been said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was displeased by US President Donald Trump’s dismissal of his National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, as well as President Trump’s stance on Iran and Syria.

There is a big difference between the Iranian nuclear file and what I now call the Syrian file, except in Netanyahu’s disturbed mind. So the question becomes: What is the difference between Trump and Netanyahu and the way they think about things?

Netanyahu seeks to perpetuate his political survival for as long as possible. He wants to escape his inevitable fate and avoid going to prison, and this shapes his behavior, regardless of his claims about serving Israel and being the one to change the face of the Middle East.

Meanwhile, President Trump wants to achieve results that will grant his movement, which we could call “Trumpism,” the legitimacy it needs to survive. Here he is, speaking about how his vice president J.D. Vance deserves to succeed him. Netanyahu is the opposite: he speaks only about himself, not about his men or his party.

Trump claims that all the wars, from Ukraine to the Middle East, had broken out because the world did not respect Biden’s America; if he, Trump, had been president, these wars would have never happened. Before that, he used to blame Obama for his handling of the Iranian nuclear talks and other matters.

Netanyahu, on the other hand, blames no one- not because he is a professional or respectable politician, but because he is complicit in everything that has happened. He is responsible for allowing Hamas to grow stronger at the expense of the Palestinian Authority, and for strangling Gaza and leaving Hamas with just enough space to breathe.

Netanyahu played what I call the “half-strike game” with Hezbollah to keep Lebanon divided. He considered Bashar al-Assad’s survival in power a red line, and convinced Washington of the need to keep him for 14 years. And now, he is the one seeking to destroy the new Syria and rip its social fabric apart.

What, then, is Trump’s strategy, especially given Washington’s contradictory statements? A regional insider tells me that Trump ups the ante with his rhetoric- from the Riviera in Gaza to the contradictory messages of war and peace with Iran- in order to push others to offer solutions that had once been unexpected or unacceptable. Trump’s goal, as he himself says, is to serve the interests of the United States.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu behaves like the leader of a gang who seeks nothing beyond his own personal interests. The difference between the two men is vast, even if their goals sometimes overlap. Trump’s objectives go far beyond Netanyahu’s personal ambitions.

Netanyahu seeks to outsmart and evade solutions in the region, chief among them the peace process. Meanwhile, Trump has tried to reach a deal regarding Iran’s nuclear program and make progress on the Abraham Accords. He wants to immortalize his name, going down in history as a man who served the United States and made peace. He wants “Trumpism” to grow.

Netanyahu wants to avoid prison and take revenge on the cards, from Hamas to Hezbollah, he had once played in the region after the blowback. He wants to derail the Iranian nuclear program, but with US backing.

The two men may share some goals, but there is an unmistakable difference between them: President Trump seeks results and aspires to a Nobel Prize, while Netanyahu seeks survival and to remain in power as long as possible.

Trump wants outcomes; Netanyahu wants to stay afloat.