With a bribery investigation hanging over him at home and under attack from abroad over Israel's settlement expansion in the West Bank, Benjamin Netanyahu is in need of a mate.
He's certainly found one in Malcolm Turnbull, who welcomed the Israeli prime minister to Sydney full of praise for "Bibi" and Israel, particularly its success in becoming a thriving hi-tech economy.
The feeling is mutual. Mr Netanyahu repeated several times during the first day of his historic four-day visit how much Australia had done for Israel - from liberating Beersheba in World War I to playing a key role in the establishment of Israel as a state in 1947.
It all made him feel he was in "the friendliest country possible".
"There's no better friend for the state of Israel," Mr Netanyahu said of Mr Turnbull as the pair appeared before a 2000-strong Jewish congregation at the Central Synagogue in Bondi Junction on Wednesday night.
"But he's had some standard bearers before him. John Howard and Tony Abbott."
Both former prime ministers were seated just behind Mr Netanyahu in the synagogue and received huge applause from the congregation, which included NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, prominent lawyer Mark Leibler, retail billionaire Solomon Lew and Jeanne Pratt, widow of the late industrialist Richard Pratt.
Such adulation is harder to come by back at home for Mr Netanyahu, whose Likud party has been slipping in the opinion polls while he remains under police investigation into claims he wrongly accepted gifts from billionaires.
Mr Netanyahu, who denies any wrongdoing, has also faced months of criticism over Israel's rapid expansion of settlements on Palestinian-owned land in the West Bank - a move condemned by the United Nations.
Mr Turnbull spent much of the first day defending Israel against the UN's criticism.
Facing the congregation at his "local shul" - as he calls the synagogue in the heart of his Wentworth electorate - Mr Turnbull said Australia disassociated itself from the UN resolution because it attributed fault only to the state of Israel.
Mr Netanyahu said while he knew Israel was "much maligned" in the UN, he saluted Mr Turnbull for "standing up for Israel".
"You refused to accept this hypocrisy," he said.
The Israeli leader sparked huge applause for speaking out about the need to "battle against those who seek to demonise Jews", referring to a resurgence in anti-semitism in many parts of the world.
"It is something we need to fight together," he said.
"I think this is important in Europe. It's important in America. It's very important that President Trump took a strong stand against anti-semitism."
Mr Netanyahu left his crowd with an invitation.
"I want all of you to come to Israel. I want you to visit your friends and your families, I want you to walk the streets of the old city in Jerusalem and the Golan.
"We are part of you, you are part of us."
