opinion
US Politicians Jump Into
Israel’s Elections
BY JAMES SINKINSON
en. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), one of Israel’s
most stalwart — and passionate — supporters,
dropped a bombshell last week when he warned
former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
against forming a coalition government with Israel’s
far-right Religious National Party, one of whose
leaders is the outspoken attorney-politician Itamar
Ben-Gvir. Mendendez’s bold statement raises the question
as to whether Israeli politicians may also exercise
their right to suggest whom American political par-
ties should allow into their coalitions.

Menendez reportedly told Netanyahu that includ-
ing Ben-Gvir in Israel’s next government would
threaten U.S.-Israel relations. As chair of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, Menendez has the
power to make that danger real.

Menendez’s warning was echoed by Rep. Brad
Sherman (D-Calif.), who urged Israeli politicians to
“ostracize extremists like Itamar Ben-Gvir.” Neither
Sherman nor Menendez specified any Ben-Gvir
views to which they object.

Ben-Gvir hasn’t made Netanyahu’s decision
easy: He has a reputation for making statements
against Israeli Arabs — such as suggesting the
deportation of those who attack Israeli soldiers, a
proposal some consider racist.

This past weekend, when Arab rioters attacked
a prayer service that Ben-Gvir was attending in
Jerusalem, he drew a pistol and waved it at
stone-throwers. On the other hand, Ben-Gvir swears he is not
racist — that indeed he is an anti-racist, fighting
antisemitic instigation within the boundaries of
Israel’s “homeland” by the likes of the Muslim
Brotherhood, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad,
with the aim of defeating them “just as the United
States defeated Al-Qaeda.”
Netanyahu’s decision on Ben-Gvir is likely to
come soon, since Israel’s next national election
— its fifth in just four years — happens on Nov. 1.

Because so many parties are vying for control of
the Knesset, top politicians will almost surely face
huge challenges in negotiating a ruling coalition
partnership … once again.

Currently, Netanyahu’s Likud Party looks likely
to capture the most seats in the Knesset — pro-
jected at 32 — but nowhere near enough to clinch
a 61-seat majority. This means that in order to
govern, Netanyahu may well be forced to include
the National Religious Party, which with 13 seats is
likely to rank as the nation’s third-strongest party.

Americans should note that in a rough-and-tum-
14 OCTOBER 20, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
Melinda Nagy / AdobeStock
S ble Israeli election, one thing is fairly certain: About
62% of voters will support right-leaning parties.

This percentage has grown substantially over
recent years, mostly at the expense of the political
center (now about 24% of voters) and the left (now
about 11%).

Even so, Netanyahu’s path to the premiership is
not certain: Some polls show him only able to mus-
ter 59 or 60 seats, short of a majority — throwing
more uncertainty into the mix. While right-leaning
voters are a clear majority in Israel, their division
among the various right-wing parties still makes it
difficult to form a right-leaning government.

In other words, if Netanyahu’s only path to gov-
ernance is by coalescing with Ben-Gvir and the
National Religious Party, he is going to do it. (And
so, we believe, would Menendez.)
Contrast Israel’s voter sentiments with those in
the United States in the runup to the midterm elec-
tions on Nov. 8. We can safely say American voters
are generally split between left and right, with most
voting in the center. While coastal states lean left
and the country’s center leans right, no one party
shows a clear advantage.

Indeed, Democrats’ margin of control in the Senate
is just a single vote. Its majority in the 435-member
House of Representatives is just eight — which could
easily be swept away in the midterms.

Notably, one of the Democrat’s newest Senate
members, Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), has accused
Israel of being an apartheid state — clearly a false-
hood and clearly antisemitic on the grounds of
demonization and delegitimization of the Jewish
state. How receptive would President Biden — or
Menendez — be to Israeli suggestions that
Democrats exclude Warnock from their governing
coalition? Likewise, six members of the Democratic “Squad”
in the House — made up of Reps. Ocasio-Cortez,
Omar, Tlaib, Pressley, Bowman and Bush — have
all made anti-Israel (and many openly antisemitic)
statements. Should Israeli Knesset members recommend
that Squad members be disavowed by House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi or stripped of their member-
ship on key House committees?
While Menendez’s support of Israel is respected
and highly valued, his attempt to influence the will
of Israeli voters and the composition of Israel’s gov-
ernment is misplaced and unwelcome.

Likewise, while a handful of American politicians
in both the House and Senate have made clearly
antisemitic and anti-Israel remarks, Israeli mem-
bers of the Knesset have rightly resisted making
recommendations to either political party as to who
should serve in the United States government. JE
James Sinkinson is president of Facts and Logic
About the Middle East, or FLAME.