Report: US officials working to establish informal channels with Israel’s opposition

Some officials in the Trump administration are working to establish informal channels of communication with Israel’s opposition, including the leading contenders to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming election, former prime minister Naftali Bennett and former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot, Channel 12 reported this evening.

The report said the figures, including some with close ties to the Israel leader, have increasingly been sending out feelers to build relations.

The report cites growing concern over those hard-right members of the Netanyahu government seen as extremists; frustration with the inability to advance various diplomatic agendas with the current government, which has been stained internationally due to its conduct in the war in Gaza; and an acknowledgment that Netanyahu could very well lose the coming election, which is to take place in October at the latest.