Netanyahu bet on Trump – but both lost

Alongside scramble to form ruling coalition, Israel’s political establishment grapples with US voter rejection of White House ally and own contribution towards it. US President Donald Trump and his Republican party’s resounding midterm defeat has left many in Israel, particularly on the political right, grappling with the scale of the rebuke to those seen as their closest allies in Washington.

Yet in late February, Trump joined Netanyahu in ordering a joint military campaign against Iran, prompting immediate Iranian retaliation and raising the spectre of an all-out regional war. With the prospect of renewed hostilities looming, both leaders exchanged effusive endorsements in the build-up to Tuesday’s US congressional election and Israel’s parliamentary vote last week, calling upon the other’s electorate to head to the polls to support their ally.

Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition finished the October 27 electoral race with just 53 seats, far shy of the 61 needed to form a government.