U.S. midterm results have shaken long-held Israeli assumptions about the transatlantic alliance, the BBC reports from Jerusalem. A Yedioth Ahronoth columnist called it a “generational sea change”; opposition leaders blame Benjamin Netanyahu for becoming “toxic” among Democrats and Republicans. The prime minister has so far stayed silent.

Israel was a campaign issue: many Democratic candidates criticised actions in Gaza and the West Bank, and the cost of the joint U.S.–Israeli war on Iran weighed on voters. President Donald Trump blamed the Iran war for the Republican rout; Vice-President JD Vance listed the Israel relationship among reasons voters deserted the party.

Trump’s Fox News remark that he would stop $3.8bn a year in U.S. military aid to Israel two years early shocked Jerusalem — less for the money (under 10% of Israel’s defence budget) than for the diplomatic signal. Israel’s president called it a “bolt from the blue”; the PM’s office later said shifting from aid to partnership showed the relationship’s “strength.”

Analyst Yaakov Katz warns a Democrat-controlled Congress could slow arms sales, spare parts and joint projects — including missile-defence systems Israel has relied on. A U.S. official said the bedrock alliance remains, but Washington will be more willing to criticise when warranted.

The questions land at a sensitive domestic moment: after Israel’s election, neither government nor opposition has a clear majority; the president will decide whether Netanyahu or centrist rival Gadi Eisenkot gets the first shot at forming a coalition.

Source consulted: US midterm results spark fears in Israel over future of two countries' ties — BBC.

Image: Knesset Menorah, Jerusalem (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0).

Sources consulted: US midterm results spark fears in Israel over future of two countries' ties — BBC.