Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to excuse President Donald Trump’s Dec. 19 announcement of a US military and diplomatic pullout from Syria. “This is, of course, America’s decision,” he said. “We will study the timetable, the mode of operation and of course the implications for us,” the prime minister added with commendable restraint. He is quite right. Any country, even more so the world’s pre-eminent power, is entitled to shape foreign and defense policy in accordance with its interests. Nonetheless, not so long ago, Netanyahu thought he was entitled to upend a major American decision on diplomatic-defense issues and to sic the American Jewish establishment on the US administration. He may not have the same luck in replicating that ploy this time.
In 2015, when the prime minister thought President Barack Obama’s decision to sign the deal curbing Iran’s nuclear program was detrimental to Israel’s interests, he set off warning sirens that reverberated across the Atlantic. On the other hand, when Trump leaves Syria to the mercies of Russia and Iran and abandons the Kurds, Netanyahu sounds the all clear as if to say, “In any case, we will protect Israel and defend ourselves from this arena.” In 2015, the Republicans were the ones to stand by Netanyahu. They tried to help him abort Obama’s deal with Iran and eventually convinced Trump to withdraw from it. Now, in last month’s midterm congressional elections, the Republicans’ loss of the majority in the House of Representatives was Netanyahu’s loss as well.
The US move in Syria symbolizes Netanyahu’s failed strategy in banking on an unpredictable and aggressive president. In recent years, Israel has lost its two strongest cards in the American political game — the House of Representatives and the Jewish community.
The results of the congressional elections do not point to an unambiguous stand by the American public on Israel. They are particularly telling, however, in reflecting the views of American Jews on Israeli government policy. The most glaring finding is the abyss that has opened up between the biggest Jewish community in the world outside Israel and the state of the Jewish people as 2018 draws to a close.
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