October 7 and Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu, who once served as Israel's primary advocate in the United States, has ultimately failed in his mission to maintain strong American support for the country. Franklin Feuer, a renowned Jewish American journalist, argues in The Atlantic that Netanyahu's decades-long effort to promote Israel has unraveled.

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Forty years later, he has failed in his mission.

Feuer recounts Netanyahu's early career in the 1980s, when he was instrumental in shaping Israel's image in America. However, forty years later, the landscape has dramatically shifted. Solidarity with Israel, once a rare point of agreement between Democrats and Republicans, has been severely undermined by the repercussions of the October 7 attacks and Israel's military actions in Gaza.

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While solidarity with Israel was once one of the few issues on which Democrats and Republicans agreed, the repercussions of the October 7 attacks and Israel’s subsequent crimes in Gaza have undermined that consensus.

The erosion of bipartisan support is evident in voting patterns. The number of Democratic senators opposing arms sales to Israel has surged, with presidential candidates now engaging in high-profile confrontations with the nation. This shift has exposed Netanyahu, who had long claimed to understand Americans better than anyone.

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Even if he believed the Palestinians were uninterested, he acted with blatant arrogance and recklessness.

Feuer suggests that Netanyahu missed opportunities to mend Israel's reputation, particularly by not respecting former President Obama or genuinely pursuing a resolution to the Palestinian issue. His subsequent alignment with Donald Trump, while yielding benefits like the embassy move to Jerusalem, also alienated segments of the American political establishment. The article implies that Netanyahu's actions, characterized by "blatant arrogance and recklessness," have alienated key allies and contributed to a significant decline in Israel's standing in the United States.

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He had come to power by convincing Americans of the righteousness of his cause, but once in office, he acted as though American conviction no longer mattered.