US diplomat Dennis Ross predicts that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won’t rush to call new elections if Joe Biden is elected US president.
“If Biden is elected, I think the prospect of the fall of this current Israeli government and a new election goes down significantly,” says Ross, who was previously posted to the Middle East, at an event organized by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“If Trump remains, then I think the odds of Prime Minister Netanyahu being able to break the government and go to elections goes up. Netanyahu, in a context where he doesn’t have Trump, with whom he was seen as having been able to cultivate a relationship to Israel’s benefit, that’s a political loss for him. He’s had a good personal relationship with Biden, but that won’t change the political coloration and I think the prospect for an Israeli election goes down if Biden becomes president,” adds Ross.
Netanyahu is widely believed to be seeking new elections to avoid the handover of power to Benny Gantz next year under their premiership rotation agreement.
— with Jacob Magid
Veteran US diplomat Dennis Ross (Uri Lenz/Flash90)
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