David Ignatius: Netanyahu Has Been Running Against the Biden Admin in His Efforts to Remain in Power

EXCERPT:

IGNATIUS: "So, I think Netanyahu in a sense has been running against the Biden Administration in his efforts to remain in power. So, the leverage on on Netanyahu himself is limited. I think the better question, Willie, is to ask what's U.S. leverage on the Israeli war cabinet as a whole, because these decisions are being taken collectively. It is said that there were arguments in Israel, in the immediate aftermath of Iran launching its wave of a hundred ballistic missiles, 300 munitions overall, this strike that really did change the the balance of deterrence and willingness to use power in the Middle East. It was argued that Israel should go right away, pow, just a big roundhouse swing back. U.S. strongly felt that was mistake, and that view prevailed and Israel held off, engaged in a round of internal discussions and finally came up with this, as I say, seemingly fairly limited option. I think we're now in a period where you can almost see the outlines of a campaign for the next prime minister of Israel. I mean, I think we’re really in the battle now for people to jockey and see who might replace Netanyahu. One obvious person is the Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who’s been a hawk, but also has been very close to Washington the last last couple weeks. Another person is Benny Gantz, former head of the Israeli military, who’s already called for new elections. But I think the position the United States wanted be in was as friend and supporter, but as the counselor of restraint for Israel, just to preserve our position in our own coalition, with our allies who are very upset, they're very upset about what Israel has done."