The tense relations between Benjamin Netanyahu and the American Democrats, marked by the growing impatience of Joe Biden towards the Israeli Prime Minister, announced the imminent approach to the end of the Netanyahu era.
With the complexity of the political situation, the region has been on the verge of major escalation since October 7, as evidenced by military strikes in the United States and the United Kingdom against the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
In the continuity of his habits, Benjamin Netanyahu treated Joe Biden and Antony Blinken with contempt, thus reproducing his previous behavior against the nuclear agreement of the Obama administration with Iran, described as “very bad” before the American Congress in 2015. Historically, the current has never passed between Netanyahu and the Democrats.
Today, the complexity for Washington lies in the concerns of Netanyahu, focused on its political and personal future, as well as on the aspirations of the Israeli far right to expel each Arab from Gaza.
Although the American government calls for the reduction of the Israeli offensive and the inclusion of a Palestinian state in post-conflict talks, Netanyahu persists by targeting a “decisive victory over Hamas” and by rejecting the idea of a Palestinian state. Yesterday, Thursday, January 18, he underlined: “A Prime Minister must be able to say ‘no’ when necessary, even to our best friends”.
After 15 weeks of bombing, a feeling of despair settles in Israel, with Hamas far from being defeated. The criticisms fuse, in particular that of the former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who published on Haaretz an article entitled “Israel needs early elections-before it is too late”. Also evidenced by the thousands of Israelis who have been demonstrating for two weeks in favor of early elections aimed at the ejection of Netanyahu.
If elections were organized today for the Knesset, Benny Gantz would probably emerge as the winner as indicated by the last survey published by Jerusalem Post.
On the question of a Palestinian state, Gantz supports a solution to two states with a specific detail: “The Valley of the Jourdain will be our border, but we will not allow millions of Palestinians living beyond the fence to endanger our identity as a Jewish state”!
