Why are Democrats blindly embracing Netanyahu? | Jo-Ann Mort

The Israeli leader is weak at home, unpopular among Jewish Americans and undermining peace. We shouldn't prop him up

When Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, feels squeezed at home - and trapped by a Democratic White House - he turns to his most trusted consigliere, Ron Dermer, to fix things. Dermer, an American-born Israeli who functions like a Republican Party operative, is the Bibi whisperer on Capitol Hill. His official title in the Netanyahu government is Minister of Strategic Affairs. In practice, he is a Republican fixer.

During a previous US administration, Dermer was the one who worked with then-Republican House speaker John Boehner to have his boss address a joint session of Congress, infuriating Barack Obama and his then vice-president Joe Biden by going behind their backs. That time it was to try to derail the Obama-initiated Iran nuclear agreement.

Jo-Ann Mort is co-author of Our Hearts Invented a Place: Can Kibbutzim Survive in Today's Israel? She writes frequently about Israel for US, UK and Israeli publications