What Another Netanyahu Term Will Mean for American Jews

Benjamin Netanyahu's main opponents have tried to use an unusual weapon against the longtime prime minister ahead of a defining Israeli election set for Tuesday: They've argued that he has damaged the relationship between Israel and diaspora Jews.
 
For some American Jews, the strong alliance between Netanyahu and Donald Trump of the past few years has added stress to their relationship with Israel, which has become especially fraught in the years since the collapse of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in the early 2000s. While some Jews in the U.S. appreciate Trump's positions on Israel, many detest the American president's domestic politics and believe that he has enabled anti-Semitism and xenophobia. And while segments of the self-identified pro-Israel community in the U.S. resolutely support anything that the Israeli prime minister does, some have been wary of Netanyahu's alliance with right-wing forces, and disappointed by what they see as his failure to facilitate religious pluralism. Tuesday's major election in Israel marks a high point of strain in the relationship between at least some American Jews and Israel, which has changed radically in the past generation.