NETANYAHU’S FAILURE TO FORM GOVERNMENT UPSETS TRUMP

Trump 'Not Happy' About Second Israeli Election, Says Israelis ‘Ought To Get Their Act Together’

By Ryan Jones

Israel Today
June 3, 2019

US President Donald Trump no doubt breathed a sigh of relief in early April when his buddy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, emerged victorious in Israel's early national election.

It meant that Trump would have somebody to work with in pushing his "Deal of the Century" for Middle East peace, even if that plan, the details of which remain classified, demands heavy concessions from Israel.

Accordingly, the Trump Administration announced a peace summit in Bahrain at the end of June, certain that Netanyahu would have cobbled together a ruling coalition and established his next government by that time.

It's no wonder, then, that the American leader was visibly perturbed after learning that Netanyahu had failed to form a government thanks to Israel's fractious political landscape, and that the Jewish state would hold yet another national election in September.

"Bibi got elected. Now, all of a sudden, they’re going to have to go through the process again until September? That’s ridiculous. So we’re not happy about that," Trump told reporters on Sunday. "Israel is all messed up with their election. I mean, that came out of the blue three days ago. So that’s all messed up. They ought to get their act together."

While the Bahrain summit is still scheduled to go ahead, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is now acknowledging that Trump's peace plan likely has little chance of success, as only Israel is expected to accept its terms.

But now even that might not be the case.

Polls currently predict that Netanyahu and his Likud will again win in September, but anything could happen. And if the centrist "Blue and White" were to emerge victorious this time around, Trump might find a new Israeli government much less willing to go along with his agenda.

In the meantime, even the Bahrain summit will be less significant since Netanyahu is currently a lame-duck prime minister with no Knesset, meaning he can't (or, at least, shouldn't) make any firm decisions on the proposals submitted there later this month.