Kit Knightly – Off-Guardian Nov 4, 2026

he last week has seen two major elections go to the polls – the parliamentary election in Israel and the US midterms – and the stories of those elections are tightly intertwined.

In Israel, a close vote has seen no party finish with an outright majority, with either Netanyahu’s bloc or the opposition bloc needing the support of a surging Arab coalition to form a government.

The President and the electoral commission have both rejected Benjamin Netanyahu’s allegations of voter fraud and certified the results.

This result is being widely described as a rebuke of Netanyahu and his policies, most especially the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

Meanwhile, last night the US turned blue, with the Democrats surging to massive victories all over the country, including turning Texas blue for the first time in nearly forty years.

Trump et al. are clearly comfortable with this story, as they have yet to contest the results or allege cheating.

Indeed, apparently the “election denial movement” is “in retreat”:

Election Deniers Aren’t Contesting Their Massive Losses
Wired

The Election Deniers Are in Retreat
The Atlantic

Questioning the validity of elections is just not cool any more, guys. Move on.

Far from contesting it, notable Republicans are already accepting and explaining the result, including Vice-President JD Vance who claimed in a long post on X that the war was to blame for the defeat, and that voters wanted to “change their relationship with Israel”.

Yes, in a reflection of the Israeli election, this defeat is being entirely laid at the feet of Trump’s policies on Iran and – most especially – Israel.

A narrative made obvious by his sudden announcement of cuts to Israel’s aid on the eve of the election.

The Guardian is calling the result…

A thumping rebuke of the US-Israel relationship

The New York Times:

For Israelis, U.S. Midterms Show How Far Their Star Has Fallen in America

Haaretz:

Democrats Sweep Midterms, Setting the Stage for Transformation of U.S.-Israel Relationship

Former Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren told CNN:

“The only bipartisan issue right now is criticism of Israel…It’s an organizing principle for the Democratic Party, and it’s becoming an organizing principle for much of the Republican Party.”

He’s wrong, obviously, that’s an absurd thing to say, but it’s interesting he should say it at all.

The Brookings Institute has clearly noticed the parallel, as they have already scheduled an online talk for tomorrow, titled:

Israel after the elections: What’s next for US-Israel relations?

The description of which notes “both the U.S. and Israeli elections could have major ramifications for the U.S.-Israel relationship. Given the polarization and shift in American public opinion toward Israel, the U.S. midterm results may reveal new insights about the foreign policy priorities of American voters”.

So the story is  that America’s relationship with Israel has become toxic, and the voters are tired of it.

The fact it may be  largely true on this occasion is immaterial, the media don’t care about shat happens to be true. The media cares  about stories it wants you to believe.

So your takeway from this should be that the media is no longer interested in sanitizing the reality of the US-Israel relationship.

An interesting fact that may or may not be related to the predicted fall of the US as a global super power and a concomitant  flip  toward the  ‘villainisation’ of Israel.

If the narrative of the election had a protagonist that personifies this message, it’s Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed (the “new Obama?”), the US’s first Muslim Senator, who ran his campaign on being pro-Palestine, “real” and dropping truth bombs.

His campaign ad blaming aid to Israel for increasing the cost of living was the most  allegedly “controversial” moment of the campaign:

 

Even members of the Democratic Party turned on him at the last minute,

– that’s just how much of an outsider he really is, fellas.

Take that to the bank.

And yet he contrived to beat this totally corrupt system and win.

In fact the entire pro-Palestine left won in America, even as the pro-Israel DNC betrayed them.  And at the same time the surging Arabic votes in Israel have become “kingmakers” who are going to “oust” Netanyahu.

The media are anxious to tell us this is a story of genuine hope, with the two elections boosting and reinforcing each other.

Less than a day after the voting, the Independent is out there proclaiming an end to “doomscrolling” and the rise of “hopescrolling”.

No, really.

Oil prices have “tumbled” to less than $100 a barrel – which of course is more or less what they were before the ‘unavoidable’ war with Iran kicked off, but hey, who needs to check back that far?

Oh, and the markets are recovering too.

Trump is weakened, and Netanyahu is half-way out the door already.

The baddies are defeated and the goodies are going go fix everything.

Things are  really really going to change this time.

Isn’t that nice?

 

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