Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stunning victory Tuesday left many U.S. newsrooms dismayed, with several positing that a fourth term for the former commando would only cause further harm to the region.
“Hard-right shift delivers upset election win for Netanyahu,” read a Reuters headline Wednesday, the report underscoring Netanyahu’s last-minute campaign promise that there would be no Palestinian state so long as he is prime minister.
The article suggested Netanyahu’s re-election victory may also undermine what Reuters described as President Obama’s attempts to establish peace in the region.
In a separate report based entirely on the word an anonymous official of a Gulf Arab government, Reuters reported that Netanyahu’s Tuesday victory is due almost entirely to his alleged fear-mongering over security threats.
Meanwhile the Associated Press, in an analysis titled “Israel likely headed toward conflict, isolation,” warned that Netanyahu’s victory over the Zionist Union’s Isaac Herzog will further plunge the region into violent chaos.
“Benjamin Netanyahu’s apparent re-election puts Israel on a course toward ever deeper confrontation with the world. To govern, his Likud Party would need to depend on ultranationalists — a recipe for neither stability nor bold moves toward Mideast peace,” the analysis read.
For NBC News, Netanyahu’s re-election, and his campaign to combat ran’s nuclear ambitions, poses a question: “Does the Obama admin have to pick up pieces after #Netanyahu win?”
National and international editorials regarding Netanyahu’s re-election were harsher in their tone, with many of them condemning the Likud leader’s campaign outright.
“Netanyahu’s rejection of a Palestinian state will further isolate and damage Israel,” read a Daily Beast editorial.
A Haaretz op-ed claimed Netanyahu’s campaign “cynically used a racist ploy and went on to win handily a few hours later,” a clear reference to the prime minister’s warning this week that the “right-wing government is in danger” and that “Arab voters are going en masse to the polls.”
And for the New York Times, the Netanyahu re-election campaign marks a deeply regrettable and sad chapter in history.
“Mr. Netanyahu showed that he was desperate, and craven, enough to pull out all the stops,” the Times’ editorial board said Tuesday, referring to the campaign as “desperate,” “racist,” “fear-mongering” and ugly.
“His behavior in the past six years — aggressively building Israeli homes on land that likely would be within the bounds of a Palestinian state and never engaging seriously in negotiations — has long convinced many people that he has no interest in a peace agreement,” the board said, noting its disgust for his warning this week that Arabs would vote in the election.
U.S. pundits were also dismayed with Netanyahu’s victory.
“Tightness of exits in Israel suggests Bibi’s shameful 11th hour demagoguery may have swayed enough votes to save him. But at what cost?” former White house advisor and political commentator David Axelrod said.
Vox’s Matt Yglesias said, “At any rate, it’s now clear Palestinians have no real partner for peace.
And for NBC News’ Mark Murray, the results of Israel’s election mean “Obama has to pick up pieces after Netanyahu’s win.”
Many of these sentiments, especially concerns over Netanyahu’s Arab warning, were echoed Wednesday by the Obama administration, as White house Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters the president is “deeply concerned” about the Israeli prime minister’s “rhetoric against Arab voters,” adding the U.S. “will convey [its] concerns.”
