Trump, nosediving in the polls and bristling over a disastrous war on Iran, needs a scapegoat – and the Israeli prime minister best fits the bill

Benjamin Netanyahu’s whirlwind visit to the United States last week to address the United Nations General Assembly was further evidence that the Israeli prime minister is now a universal pariah.

He is being abandoned even by his closest allies.

It was perhaps not surprising that 77 nations, including a handful of European states, walked out of the chamber in protest that a wanted war crimes suspect - a fugitive from the International Criminal Court (ICC) - was being given a platform to speak on the world’s largest stage.

Far more notable was what happened - or rather, didn’t - away from the podium. Netanyahu spent just eight hours in the US before heading back to Israel. It is hard to believe that that was his choice.

He was denied his usual moment in the sun with Donald Trump at the White House, and could not even secure a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.