The political ill will in both countries is running so high that unless an antidote is found, each country will become increasingly ungovernable

Photo: Flash90

IT would be easy to wax nostalgic about the heady days when Donald Trump and Binyamin Netanyahu met, and once the closed doors swung open, Israel emerged with prizes such as US recognition of Jerusalem as its capital, affirmation of Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, a declaration that settlements in Judea and Samaria do not violate international law, the Abraham Accords, and wall-to-wall US support for Israel at the UN.

Those days are gone. Both Netanyahu and Trump are mired in legal woes that might prevent them from regaining office.

Prosecutors in Netanyahu’s case pivoted last week to Case 1000, in which they allege Bibi committed a breach of trust by accepting — even demanding — expensive cigars, champagne, and jewelry from an Israeli businessman, in return for political and financial favors. Netanyahu’s attorneys must prove that Bibi accepted the gifts legally under Israel’s public service (gifts) law, and even if the amounts exceeded permissible limits, it should be punishable by only a fine, and not by a criminal conviction.

On Capitol Hill, hearings are in full swing, with former White House aides giving damaging testimony as to Trump’s conduct on and before the January 6 riots (Democrats call it an insurrection) and his attempts to stop the Electoral College from certifying Biden’s victory. A grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, is conducting a parallel probe to determine if Trump committed voter fraud there by asking Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” the votes he needed to overcome Biden’s margin of victory.

Here, too, both cases have strong parallels.

While Netanyahu did not claim voter fraud, he left office swinging, insisting he was hounded out on trumped-up charges leveled by a left-leaning judicial “junta” and its media cronies. To this day, Trump insists that he was cheated out of a second term by voter fraud, and throws his support to Republican primary candidates who embrace that position.

Republicans are holding their breath until August 2, when Arizona holds its primaries. Arizona was the last state to certify the 2020 presidential election results, handing Biden a 10,000-vote victory over Trump. Kari Lake, a former Fox News anchor, contends the count in the state’s most populous county was fraudulent, and her lead has been steadily shrinking as she tries to fend off Karrin Taylor Robson, endorsed by outgoing governor Doug Ducey, who openly defied Trump.

While Trump has a much longer road to travel to return to the White House, Netanyahu will know in a little more than 100 days if he can lead the Likud to a victory that will enable him to assemble a majority coalition.

No matter what the outcome — of the upcoming elections or the legal cases — one thing is certain. The political ill will in both countries is running so high that unless an antidote is found, each country will become increasingly ungovernable.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 919)