The Jerusalem Post's Hillary Krieger reports:
US officials are publicly taking a wait-and-see approach to the formation of a new Israeli government, but privately many have expressed concern that Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu might preside over a right-wing coalition. "There would be great unease" at the prospect of such a government, said one Capitol Hill source. He predicted that a governing coalition of parties from the Right could embolden the left flank of the Democratic party and turn up pressure, particularly in the US Congress, to pass measures that made clear demands on Israel. He distinguished, however, between a Netanyahu-led right-wing coalition and Netanyahu-led national unity government.
Krieger is a left-wing partisan whose reporting should be taken with a grain of salt, but she isn't making up quotes -- and there should be no doubt that this quote reflects the general view of the Israeli election on the American left. Likewise, Joe Klein has a column today asserting that American support for Israel will not withstand a coalition of Netanyahu and Lieberman, though Klein also stipulates that a national unity government, led by Netanyahu and including Labor and Kadima, would be an acceptable alternative. Never mind that that this is an extremely unlikely outcome, more important it is a good enough pretext to force a chance in policy -- a shift to a more "even-handed" policy -- that the left has long sought. Still, the left's deep antipathy toward Israel has been further exposed by Tuesday's elections. Congress, so beholden to the "Israel Lobby," seems unlikely to insert itself into American policy towards Israel without Obama leading the way. But if Obama does cave to the left-wing of his own party and reduce American support for Israel on the basis of this election, maybe we finally see larger numbers of Jews shifting away from the Democratic party.