US midterm results may help unite Israeli coalition to unseat Netanyahu
Democrats’ sweep of Congress may make it easier for Israel’s divided opposition to form a coalition and unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has tied himself closely to Donald Trump and the Republicans. The United States supplies Israel with critical military and diplomatic support; for decades, bipartisan ties were the core of Israeli foreign policy. Netanyahu abandoned that approach, a choice the opposition had long called ill-judged and now calls dangerous.
Opposition politician Yair Lapid said incoming Democratic lawmakers are mainly against Netanyahu, not Israel, and that treating America as “lost” is an excuse to skip diplomacy. His idea of a transatlantic charm offensive by a prospective new government drew a rebuke from New York congressman-elect Brad Lander, a Democrat and self-described liberal Zionist who was detained in the occupied West Bank last month while joining Palestinians harvesting olives. Lander said American voters want respect for international law and human rights, not a barnstorming tour, and cited the arrest of journalist Abed Abu Shehada, a Palestinian citizen of Israel taken from his home by 15 masked officials without a warrant and questioned about a podcast interview. On Friday, Lander, Daniel Bliss and Scott Wiener wrote to Israel’s ambassador seeking Abu Shehada’s immediate release.
Pressure is not only from Democrats. Vice-president JD Vance listed “our relationship with Israel” among reasons for Republican voter anger, and on election day Trump pledged to cut off $4bn (£3bn) a year in military aid — about 15 billion shekels — alarming Israel’s defence establishment. Netanyahu later framed the cut as a joint shift “from aid to partnership.” Analysts also see a longer-term change in US politics that would complicate any successor’s foreign policy.
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