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A political bombshell has hit Israel, with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s 12-year reign set to come to an end with the likely and imminent swearing-in of an ideologically broad but numerically narrow government.
Instinctively, the end of Netanyahu’s exclusive right-wing rule would be cause for the increasingly vocal and antagonistic anti-Israel progressive flank of America’s Democratic Party to celebrate.
Netanyahu’s public defiance of former Democratic President Barack Obama and his airtight embrace of former Republican President Donald Trump has made him anathema to a segment of Democrats and problematic for others, even those who are generally considered supportive of Israel.
“For decades, Israeli leadership cultivated relations across both aisles on Capitol Hill,” Rep. Andy Levin, D-Mich., a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Media Line. “Netanyahu decided to go all-in with Republicans. He has undermined the trust of Democrats.”
Domestically, the formation of the new Israeli government has the potential to put on pause, perhaps just temporarily, the growing divide between Israel and the Democratic Party, which was put on full display last month during the latest round of violence between Israel and Hamas. Even some centrist, staunchly pro-Israel Democrats joined the party’s progressive-wing members in issuing statements critical of the Israeli government’s conduct before and during the conflict.
But, can Prime Minister-designate Naftali Bennett, a man to Netanyahu’s right politically, be expected to reset ties?