Netanyahu faces angry voters at home and an irate Trump abroad

The fighting overnight between Israel and Iran has deepened Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political peril.

The renewed fighting overnight between Israel and Iran has deepened the political peril in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finds himself only months before elections that amount to the most formidable challenge yet facing his decades of leadership.

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Netanyahu had already endured mounting criticism from both his political opponents and allies who demand that he escalate Israel’s fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon, even if it meant defying President Donald Trump — Israel’s first-ever wartime ally and a hugely popular figure in the country.

Critics of Netanyahu latched onto Trump’s repeated public humiliations of him, such as last week’s phone call in which Trump said he had called Netanyahu “f------ crazy” for continuing to launch attacks in Lebanon. Even Israeli military leaders openly complained that American restrictions had tied their hands in Lebanon.