{"id":14387,"date":"2026-11-07T12:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T12:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=14387"},"modified":"2026-11-07T12:13:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T12:13:11","slug":"us-election-shows-growing-frustration-with-israel-on-both-sides-of-the-aisle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=14387","title":{"rendered":"US election shows growing frustration with Israel on both sides of the aisle"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>5 Minute, 46 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\"<\/picture>
\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, casts his ballot in his Likud party primary elections ahead of Israel’s general election in October, in Jerusalem, Aug. 17. AP-Yonhap<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

JERUSALEM \u2014 In the space of about 24 hours, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested cutting off aid to Israel, a staunch critic of Israel won a key Senate race and the vice president partly blamed his own party’s landslide defeat on U.S.-Israel relations.<\/p>\n

The rupture caused by Israel\u2019s devastating military campaign in Gaza and the jointly launched war with Iran has shredded bipartisan U.S. support for Israel that goes back decades. Democrats are fiercely divided over Israel, and Republicans are increasingly critical of its actions.<\/p>\n

In Israel, critics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accuse him of having mismanaged relations with the country\u2019s closest ally. But the divide runs much deeper, and is likely to persist even if a new government is formed after last week\u2019s elections.<\/p>\n

On the left, Americans increasingly see Israel as an international pariah because of the war in Gaza and violent settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. On the right, some see Israel as having undermined Trump\u2019s \u201cAmerica First\u201d pledge, accusing it of dragging the U.S. into a costly and unnecessary war with Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething fundamental has shifted,\u201d said Michael Oren, a historian and former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. \u201cMy working assumption is that the call to cut off military aid is just the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Political landscape shifts on the left and right<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is still unclear if Trump\u2019s remarks on ending some $4 billion in annual military aid to Israel, made in an interview with Fox News, represent official policy or were just a last-ditch bid to sway voters on Election Day. The White House did not respond to a request for more details.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu has repeatedly called Trump the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House. In his first term, Trump upended decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel\u2019s capital and legitimizing Jewish settlements seen as illegal by most of the international community. In his second term, he joined Israel in two wars launched against Iran.<\/p>\n

Hours after Trump’s remarks, election results poured in, showing a massive wave of Democratic victories across the country, including in the crucial swing state of Michigan, where Abdul El-Sayed handily defeated his Republican rival. El-Sayed accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza, allegations it vehemently denies.<\/p>\n

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, seen as a possible front-runner to succeed Trump, has sought to distance himself from the Iran war and has adopted a more critical tone toward Israel.<\/p>\n

In a postmortem posted on social media the morning after the election, Vance said an unnamed pollster, \u201cone of the smartest people I know in politics,\u201d told him Republicans need to do four things to bring voters back: \u201c1) End the war 2) Focus on cost of living\/inflation 3) Put America First 4) Change our relationship to Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis clearly doesn\u2019t bode well,\u201d said Chuck Freilich, a former deputy national security adviser in Israel. Vance\u2019s call for change \u201cdoes resonate with a certain part of the Republican Party, the Tucker Carlson and more right-wing, isolationist and MAGA part of the party,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cutting off aid would be \u2018significant unilateral change\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

For decades, the U.S. has provided billions of dollars in aid and advanced weaponry to Israel while shielding it from criticism at the U.N. and other international forums.<\/p>\n

Supporters portray such aid as an investment in a powerful and reliable ally in a dangerous region. Critics like El-Sayed say it has underwritten Israel\u2019s expansion of settlements, severely undermining prospects for a two-state solution with the Palestinians.<\/p>\n

After Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7, 2023, attack, the Biden administration bypassed Congress to approve emergency weapons sales. It paused a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs at the height of the war in Gaza but continued to provide military aid. Trump has also approved billions of dollars in weapons sales to Israel. An academic study last year found that the U.S. had provided $21.7 billion in aid to Israel since the start of the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Michael Singh, managing director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said a U.S. aid cutoff would \u201cdefinitely leave the Israelis scrambling, and it would be a significant unilateral change in the U.S.-Israel relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel would have to finance its own purchases of American-made weapons, either by borrowing money or raising taxes, said Singh, who was the senior Middle East director on the National Security Council under former U.S. President George W. Bush.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu has said he wants to wean Israel off U.S. military aid over the next 10 years. The goal would be to transition to a more balanced partnership, in which Israel would no longer rely on American taxpayer dollars while sharing its own considerable technological and intelligence capabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prime minister has been working with President Trump to make the correct transition out from aid towards partnership and mutual investment,\u201d Doron Spielman, a spokesperson for Netanyahu, said in a recent interview with Fox. Netanyahu has not commented on Trump\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n

New Israeli government would face same pressure<\/strong><\/p>\n

Netanyahu lost his parliamentary majority in last week\u2019s election, but it\u2019s far from certain that his opponents will be able to replace him.<\/p>\n

A new government led by Netanyahu\u2019s main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, could take some action to help blunt the criticism, like cracking down on rampant settler violence. But it would largely continue the policies toward the Palestinians and the wider region that have angered many Americans.<\/p>\n

The disconnect was on vivid display earlier this week when Yair Lapid, a leading member of the anti-Netanyahu coalition, said on X that a new government should send representatives to the U.S. to engage with the White House, Congress and local leaders to repair relations.<\/p>\n

Brad Lander, a newly elected Democratic representative from New York who was briefly detained by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank last month, said Lapid was missing the point.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs someone who won a seat in Congress last night, and who cares about Israel: you\u2019re not listening to what American voters \u2014 Jewish and non-Jewish \u2014 are saying. We aren\u2019t starving for a barnstorming tour. We\u2019re hungry to see respect for international law and human rights,\u201d Lander wrote.<\/p>\n

Freilich, the former Israeli security official, said that if Netanyahu ultimately remains in office, \u201cthe downward spiral will increase and maybe even get worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Eisenkot prevails, \u201cthen he can begin a process which is going to be maybe even generational. It\u2019s certainly 10 to 20 years to undo the damage that (Netanyahu) has caused,\u201d Freilich said.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n\n

\n
\n \n
\n \n \"Happy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Happy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sad\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sad <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Excited\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Excited <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sleepy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sleepy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Angry\"\n <\/a>\n
Angry<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Surprise\"\n <\/a>\n
Surprise<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, casts his ballot in his Likud party primary elections ahead of Israel’s general election in October, in Jerusalem, Aug. 17. AP-Yonhap JERUSALEM \u2014 In the space of about 24 hours, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested cutting off aid to Israel, a staunch critic of Israel won a key Senate race…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-korea","category-trending-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t