The U.S. administration is in contact with the Israeli opposition, amid a possible change in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following growing differences between Washington and Tel Aviv, Israeli media reported Sunday.
Channel 12 said officials in U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration believe that the Netanyahu government could possibly be changed, prompting Washington to make informal contacts with opposition leaders Naftali Bennett, head of the Together party, and Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party.
“The US administration has expressed concern about hardliners in Netanyahu’s government and is seeking to build a new popular base before the elections,” the outlet said.
According to the channel, the Israeli opposition sought to build ties with the U.S. administration in recent months and has achieved “limited success with officials who are critical of Netanyahu’s policies.”
“The American move aims to exploit political opportunities in light of the crisis of confidence with the current Israeli government,” it said.
The channel said Washington sees a need to build “new informal trust mechanisms” with Israel, even though Trump has not placed his support yet in another Israeli politician.
An opinion poll published by Maariv newspaper on Friday showed that the Israeli opposition could form a government if elections were held today, winning 61 seats in the Knesset against 49 for Netanyahu’s bloc.
The poll also indicated that Arab parties would win 10 seats in the upcoming elections, scheduled for October.
The report came as the U.S. and Iran held negotiations under Pakistani mediation in Switzerland to end their military conflict, triggered by […] attacks on Tehran in February.
An interim agreement calls for halting hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon. The Israeli government, however, has rejected any link between the Iran and Lebanon files.
Netanyahu says that Israel will not withdraw from the territory occupied in southern Lebanon.
Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed nearly 4,000 and injured over 12,000 others since March 2, according to official Lebanese figures.
Was just wondering about this as a possible route the empire would go with some days ago:
The power brokers of the Yankee end of empire are the real leash holders at the end of the day. The question, as far as I can tell, is: what strategic calculus are they going to make if israel doesn’t want to bend the knee enough to match step with them?
They can threaten removal of support, or even carry it out in which case israel’s situation becomes even more precarious. If israel bends, they have to reign in their more rabid tendencies, which may require a forced change in the power status quo of israel.
https://lemmygrad.ml/post/11916359/8331856
Time will tell of course if this really goes anywhere or means anything about the rabid status quo state of things there. I’m very skeptical about any of it meaning a damn thing more than performance. But it makes sense to me that Washington may be seriously contemplating this, if the Yankee understanding of the situation is that israel’s current leadership doesn’t want to move in lockstep with Washington. If that is the belief and this isn’t just for show, they are probably hoping they can salvage the settler project there, without having to abandon it.
