Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu railed Sunday against growing criticism from top ally the United States against his leadership amid the devastating war with Hamas, describing calls for a new election as “wholly inappropriate.”
In recent days, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the country and a strong Israel supporter, called on Israel to hold a new election, saying Netanyahu had “lost his way.” President Joe Biden expressed support for Schumer’s “good speech,” and earlier accused Netanyahu of hurting Israel because of the huge civilian death toll in Gaza.
Netanyahu told Fox News that Israel never would have called for a new U.S. election after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, and denounced Schumer’s comments as inappropriate.
“We’re not a banana republic,” he said. “The people of Israel will choose when they will have elections, and who they’ll elect, and it’s not something that will be foisted on us.”
Yes that’s true to a large extent, but a President does have some executive power in terms of leverage and how they choose to engage diplomatically with Israel:
Reagan famously threatened to cut off aid funding during the Lebanon War, which lead to a withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Obama was very critical of settlements in the West Bank and his administration chose not to veto the UN resolution condemning then.
Trump’s administration was very supportive of Israel, officially recognized Jerusalem as it’s capital, and also brokered the Abraham Accords.
So yeah, you’re right in that the US government as whole has more or less guaranteed to ultimately support Israel no matter what, the President can still have an effect by themselves.