Opposition leader Yair Lapid accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of harming Israel’s relationship with the Democratic Party, at Yesh Atid Telem’s weekly faction meeting at the Knesset.
Lapid said the difference between him and Netanyahu is he always made sure to maintain friendly and positive relations with the Democrats in the House and Senate and that Netanyahu did not.
“The next president of the United States will be a friend of Israel,” Lapid said. “Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden are friends of Israel with a deep commitment to Israel and to Zionism. There is one troubling aspect in the relationship – until a few years ago, Israel was above politics in the United States. We were a bipartisan issue. All the governments of Israel preserved good relations with the Democrats and the Republicans. Netanyahu decided, mostly for internal reasons, to break with that principle.”
Lapid said Netanyahu created an almost complete identification between the current government and the Republican Party, between himself and Trump. He said Netanyahu wanted to use Trump’s popularity in Israel to gain points at home.
“That is a serious mistake with serious consequences in the US,” Lapid said. “I warned him against that mistake time and again. Netanyahu refused to listen and now Israel is losing the Democratic Party because of him.”
Lapid warned that within the Democratic Party, radical voices are growing stronger and said anti-Israel actors were working hard within the party.
“Instead of working with the Democrats smartly and with patience, Netanyahu’s approach is playing into the hands of the radical elements,” Lapid said. “He’s pushing the Democrats further and further away. We don’t want to find ourselves with a Democratic Party in the United States acting like the British Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn. We can prevent that by working with the leadership of the Democratic Party, the vast majority of whom are still pro-Israel.”
Netanyahu’s spokesmen declined to respond.