Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long sold himself as the leader who will ensure that ties with the United States, the country’s most important ally, remain strong.
asserted
ties → sell → States
The endorsement he received in the run-up to Israel’s parliamentary elections last month from US President Donald Trump added to that perception, in the same year as Washington and Tel Aviv jointly went to war against Iran.
asserted
Washington → receive → Iran
Then came the US midterm elections, and the disastrous performance of Trump’s Republican Party.
asserted
elections → come → Party
Early analysis of why the Republicans lost so badly has in part focused on that war with Iran, and the United States’s relationship with Israel.
asserted
Republicans → lose → Israel
Both were highlighted by US Vice President JD Vance.
asserted
Both → highlight → Vance
’s Herzog accepts vote results, opens talks on forming a government
- list 3 of
asserted
Herzog → accept → government
4Israel’s opposition slams ‘toxic Netanyahu’ after Democrats win US Congress
- list 4 of 4Iran, Gaza, Ukraine: What will US midterm results mean for these conflicts?
asserted
results → slam → conflicts
Suddenly, Netanyahu’s argument that he is the US-Israel relationship’s secret sauce looks much weaker.
asserted
he → look → ?
If anything, it can be argued that Netanyahu, and his policies – resulting in a genocidal war in Gaza, the Iran war, and numerous attacks in the wider region – have made Israel politically toxic in the US.
asserted
Israel → argue → US
Many Israelis are now worried that the country can no longer rely on unquestioned support from the US.
asserted
country → worry → US
And as Israel’s political leaders jockey to try and form a government following the parliamentary elections, the opposition has laid the blame squarely at Netanyahu’s feet, and argued that it is another reason he should not be allowed to form the next government.
asserted
he → jockey → government
Yair Lapid, a former Israeli prime minister whose party is a member of the bloc seeking to unseat Netanyahu, stressed his own ties to members of the US Congress in a social media post.
asserted
party → seek → post
He added that he believed US voters were not so much against Israel as “against extremist ministers who say crazy things.
asserted
who → add → things
They’re against settler violence; they’re against a government they don’t understand; they’re mainly against Netanyahu — for them, anything connected to him is toxic”.
asserted
anything → ’re → him
Avigdor Lieberman, another opposition leader, echoed what many in Israel are said to suspect: that Trump’s election-day announcement that US military aid to Israel would end had been traded for his endorsement of the prime minister.
asserted
aid → echo → minister
“The price of Trump’s support for Netanyahu – $3.8bn dollars a year,” Lieberman wrote on social media.
asserted
Lieberman → write → media
“With America stopping the money it has channelled to Israel for so many years, the defence budget, already 7 percent of GDP, will have to rise.
asserted
budget → stop → GDP
Israelis will feel it in their pocket.
asserted
Israelis → feel → pocket
But then, you can’t be a rogue state and expect things to continue as before,” Ahron Bregman, an Israeli security analyst and senior teaching fellow at King’s College London, said.
asserted
Bregman → expect → London
“In Israel, Netanyahu continues to do what he has always done so well, turning one segment of the population against the other.
asserted
he → continue → other
He’s now trying to delegitimise the Arabs by saying they stole the elections, in order to stop the opposition having the Arabs as partners.
asserted
opposition → try → partners
No substantial change
Israel’s general election on October 27 left Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc with 53 seats in parliament, eight short of the 61 needed to form a government.
asserted
election → leave → government
The opposition bloc led by former army chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot got 48 seats, while the Arab-led parties – the United Arab List (Ra’am) and the Joint List – have 19 seats.
asserted
parties → lead → seats
The Arab-led parties have both said that they will support Eisenkot for prime minister.
asserted
they → lead → minister
Eisenkot and other opposition leaders have rejected suggestions of a unity government with Netanyahu, leaving him without a clear path to a majority.
It is now up to Israeli President Isaac Herzog to nominate a politician to form a government, but he has yet to do so.
asserted
he → reject → government
As things stand, Eisenkot’s self-styled Zionist bloc, which has previously ruled out serving alongside the Arab-led parties, stands to benefit from their backing from outside the government, despite Netanyahu’s attacks.
asserted
which → stand → attacks
Eisenkot’s prospects were boosted further on Thursday when United Torah Judaism (UTJ), Netanyahu’s longtime ultra-Orthodox ally, declined for the first time since 2009 to recommend him or anyone else to form a government, an apparent defection that weakens the prime minister’s position while giving a boost to his opponents.
asserted
that → boost → opponents
But Eisenkot replacing Netanyahu as Israel’s prime minister does not necessarily mean that he will be able to reverse Israel’s declining popularity in the US.
asserted
he → replace → US
An April Pew Research Center poll suggested that public attitudes in the US are as negative towards Israel as they are towards Netanyahu, noted pollster Shibley Telhami, the director of the University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll.
uncertain
Telhami → suggest → Poll
“Our own poll found that most Americans would not change their view of Israel, even if there is a new government without Netanyahu,” said Telhami.
asserted
Telhami → find → Netanyahu
“Any government of Israel would be swimming against the rising public tide …
asserted
government → swim → tide
I don’t think any government of Israel could return relations back to where they were five years ago.”
uncertain
they → think → relations
The Aporia
