Gadi Eisenkot, the former military chief who has been given a chance to form Israel’s new governing coalition and replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is by no means assured of success.
But if he does take power, another hugely daunting challenge would immediately confront him: how to undo the vast damage done to Israel’s relationship with the United States, its closest and most important ally.
It’s hard to imagine things getting much worse.
Many Americans have turned against Israel over its devastating military campaign in Gaza, and even more so over its role in pressing for war with Iranwhich led to soaring gas prices.
President Trump announced this month that he would cut off billions of dollars in annual U.S. military aid to Israel by the end of the year and blamed Israel in part for Republican losses in the midterm elections. Democratic control of Congress could quickly lead to sanctions on violent Israeli settlers and on new settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, as well as to new conditions on arms sales.
In the past, Israel could always turn to Congress for support in clashes with the White House, said Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington and deputy prime minister under Mr. Netanyahu. But no longer.
“For the first time in the history of our relationship with the United States, we have no recourse,” he said. “We have to start from scratch. We have a lot of fence mending to do and with no guarantee of success. Zero.”
Source: www.nytimes.com
