The US and Israel should stay out of their respective elections - editorial

• Published date: 14 March 2024
• Author: JPOST EDITORIAL
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

"Israel is not a protectorate of the US but an independent and democratic country whose citizens are the ones who elect the government. We expect our friends to act to overthrow the terror regime of Hamas and not the elected government in Israel," the statement continued

The statement was issued a few hours after a segment of the US intelligence community's annual report on national security threats was leaked dealing with appraisals of Israel's political scene.

The report said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "viability as a leader as well as his governing coalition of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties that pursue hardline policies on Palestinian and security issues may be in doubt."

The report continued: "Distrust of Netanyahu's ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections. A different, more moderate government is a possibility."

Given that it is rare for such an intelligence assessment of another country's domestic political scene to find its way into the public domain, this one clearly antagonized officials at the highest levels in Jerusalem, believing that this was a thinly veiled attempt by officials in the Biden administration to impact Israel's domestic political situation. And that interpretation explains the angry, quasi-anonymous response.

If the senior official's hunch is correct and the US is trying to tip the political scales in Israel, it is a mistake, though not one without precedent.

It is a mistake because it is simply bad form for one country to meddle in the internal politics of another, especially a close ally.

For years, Netanyahu himself has been blamed for doing precisely this by supposedly supporting Mitt Romney in the 2012 US presidential race against Barack Obama. He was also never forgiven by many Democrats for what they claim was his attempt to meddle in internal US affairs when he gave his famous speech to Congress against the Iranian nuclear deal in 2015.

US attempts to influence Israeli politics

But Netanyahu did not invent the wheel here. For decades, the US has sought to tip the political scales in Israel.

In 1992, then-US president George H.W...