A conflict that has displaced and cost thousands of lives with over a 100 hostages sill in captivity….
A pissed off American President….
A possible second front in Lebanon….
A High court cutting his attempt to clip their winds….
And?
A criminal trial that is STILL dogging him and his wife…..
The Israeli leader is trying to stay in office and avoid prison on corruption charges, two linked desires that have long made him vulnerable to the demands of far-right members of his governing coalition. Now, an Israeli Supreme Court ruling against his effort to overhaul the judiciary may make him even more susceptible.
The far-right figures — notably ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir — harbor deep anti-Palestinian views and are resistant to U.S. proposals that they consider too friendly to the Palestinians. If they abandon Netanyahu’s coalition, he could lose his prime ministership, increasing his legal peril.
That has made Netanyahu reluctant to take American advice on the war, and it suggests that U.S.-Israeli tensions will grow as Palestinians struggle to survive Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
“It’s not always clear who’s driving the train” in Israel, said a U.S. official familiar with American-Israeli discussions. “There have been times where [Netanyahu] has intimated or even been more explicit in telling us, ‘My hands are tied. You know, I have this coalition. It’s not me. It’s a coalition. It’s not me. It’s the political imperatives that I’m facing.’” The official, like a number of others I talked to, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive talks….
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“It is a terrible example of a leader who has conflated his own political survival with what he considers to be the best interests of this country. It’s a horrible combination, and it leads to terrible decision-making,” he told me.
“It is a terrible example of a leader who has conflated his own political survival with what he considers to be the best interests of this country. It’s a horrible combination, and it leads to terrible decision-making,” he told me.
Netanyahu, whom many Israelis simply call “Bibi,” is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, holding the position on and off for some 16 years.
Now his chances of staying in power may be higher the longer the war lasts, some analysts and U.S. officials told me…..