Reported by Al Jazeera
Netanyahu’s rivals say US midterm results show Israel ‘cannot afford’ to have the prime minister remain in office.
Israeli opposition politicians have blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for eroding support for Israel in the United States after Democrats won control of Congress, and pledged to “strengthen bipartisan” ties if they form the next government.
The comments on Wednesday came after Democrats won majorities in both the Senate and the House on Tuesday in a sharp rebuke to US President Donald Trump, fuelled in part by deep frustration over the US and Israel’s war on Iran.
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The vote came a week after Israel’s own election, in which Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition lost its parliamentary majority but did well enough to deny his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, a clear path to replacing him.
Yair Lapid, a former prime minister whose party is part of the coalition seeking to unseat Netanyahu , said on Wednesday that the US results showed “Israel cannot afford” for Netanyahu to remain in office.
“It endangers our security, it jeopardizes our democracy, and it will ruin our standing on the global stage,” Lapid wrote on social media.
For decades, the US has been Israel’s staunchest ally for generations under presidents of both parties, providing billions of dollars a year in military aid since the 1970s. But unlike previous Israeli leaders, who carefully courted Democrats and Republicans alike, Netanyahu has openly sided with Republicans.
Some Democratic candidates made criticism of military aid to Israel amid its genocidal war on Gaza a central campaign theme. On Tuesday, Trump, who had endorsed Netanyahu in Israel’s election, pledged to halt $4bn in annual funding to Israel, saying the move would take away a “bad talking point” for Democrats.
Lapid said Israel must go “back to the rule that worked for us for seventy years and broke in 2015, when Netanyahu went to speak in Congress” against then-President Barack Obama. He was referring to Netanyahu’s controversial speech to Congress that year, in which he warned against the nuclear deal Obama was negotiating with Iran, aligning himself with the former president’s Republican opponents.
“I said…