US midterm results herald upheaval in Middle East policy

{"text":[[{"start":8.12,"text":"Just hours after the scale of the Republican defeat in Tuesday’s midterms became apparent, Donald Trump’s vice-president laid the blame."}],[{"start":16.84,"text":"“The reason we lost is the war,” JD Vance wrote on X on Wednesday, referring to the president’s decision to attack Iran earlier this year."}],[{"start":25.84,"text":"“To the people who are pissed off and want to say, ‘I told you so’: you’re right, you did tell us so,” he said."}],[{"start":32.6,"text":"It was a blatant but belated effort by a possible presidential candidate in 2028 to differentiate himself from Trump. But Vance’s long statement, reposted by the president’s son Donald Trump Jr, underscored the starkly changed foreign policy landscape confronting the administration after Democrats’ sweeping victory to take control of Congress."}],[{"start":53.92,"text":"Democrats will command big majorities in both the US House and Senate when the new Congress begins in January. Their number will include leftist progressives who will demand a radical reshaping of America’s relationship with Israel, bolstered by a mandate for change expressed by voters from Michigan to Texas who are angry at America’s latest entanglement in the Middle East and its cost."}],[{"start":76.88,"text":"There was now a “consensus position of opposition and distrust” among Democrats when it comes to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, Peter Welch, the Democratic senator from Vermont, told the FT."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":91.64,"text":"The new Democratic majority could push to end “unrestricted aid” to Israel and compel Trump to end his war in Iran. A Republican-led bill that would deepen the integration of the US and Israel’s defence industries will face major hurdles to passage."}],[{"start":105.2,"text":"But after an election in which Israel’s war in Gaza and Netanyahu’s role in drawing the US into Iran have been electoral flashpoints, the vote’s fallout could be even more profound, said Welch."}],[{"start":117.12,"text":"“Our historic relationship with Israel was based on our respect for the Jewish democratic state, and it was also based on them being an ally against a threatening Arab world around it that was perceived by the United States as essential to the flow of oil. That’s been destroyed,” the senator said."}],[{"start":132.4,"text":"The implications stretch beyond the stand-off with Iran, now into its ninth month. For generations, US support for Israel has been sacrosanct in Washington, transcending party divisions. Tuesday’s vote signals a public appetite for something different."}],[{"start":148.4,"text":"Americans voted for Democrats because they “were angry”, Vance wrote in his statement, and wanted leaders to end the war, bring down the cost of living, put “America first” and “change our relationship to Israel”."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":161.3,"text":"The rage helped flip US Senate seats in Republican strongholds from Texas and Kansas to South Carolina, transforming America’s electoral landscape."}],[{"start":171.24,"text":"Vance’s swift public break with the president’s most consequential policy decision — to attack Iran — might mark a first step in his effort to succeed Trump. But it also opened the possibility that the administration could back away from the conflict."}],[{"start":185.28,"text":"Oil prices fell on the back of his comments and the perception that the “blue wave” that swept into Washington would bring an end to the war. The president has power over foreign policy, but the Constitution gives Congress power over war and the budget."}],[{"start":200.02,"text":"Trump himself seems to have tired of the conflict, telling the FT on Tuesday he had no immediate plans to attack Iran again, even though the US struck the Islamic republic on Monday and the president said it was “locked and loaded” to hit it again."}],[{"start":213.68,"text":"During the midterms, the shifting political ground on foreign policy was most obvious in Michigan, where Democrat Abdul El-Sayed won a Senate race after a campaign that sought to tie America’s high living costs to US financial support for Israel and the Iran war."}],[{"start":228.76,"text":"Trump and other Republicans, including Vance, tried to brand El-Sayed as an extremist and antisemite. But, sensing the public groundswell, the president blindsided both parties and the Israeli government on the morning of the vote when he told Fox News the US would end its annual $3.8bn assistance for Israel."}],[{"start":247.84,"text":"The aid had become a “bad talking point”, Trump said. “Why should we suffer the slings from lunatics like an El-Sayed when [the Israelis] don’t need it?”"}],[{"start":256.32,"text":"His shift was too late to stop El-Sayed, an outspoken critic of Israel, from being elected a US senator. It is unclear if the president, who sometimes surprises aides with his shifting views, will uphold the plan to cut aid."}],[{"start":270.46,"text":"But Nada Al-Hanooti, national deputy organising director for EmgageUSA, a non-profit focused on mobilising Muslim political participation, said the election result signalled a sea change in US politics."}],[{"start":283.56,"text":"“I think Trump is rethinking everything,” Al-Hanooti told the FT. “The fact is that Israel was a huge factor in election results, especially in Michigan.”"}],[{"start":293,"text":"Now if Republicans want to win the presidency and Congress in 2028, “they will have to rethink their policies”, she said."}],[{"start":300.6,"text":"American public opinion towards Israel has dropped dramatically in recent years, as voters recoiled at the death toll and devastation from its war in Gaza. A July poll by the Pew Research Center found that 62 per cent of Americans had an unfavourable view of Israel’s far-right government, including an overwhelming majority of Democrats. A majority of Republicans under the age of 39 now have a negative view too, according to the poll."}],[{"start":325.66,"text":"Efforts by the Israeli government-aligned US lobby group Aipac to sway American elections, including in Michigan, have also triggered some backlash."}],[{"start":334.1,"text":"“To Aipac, who spent $42mn against us, thank you for giving me the opportunity to beat you twice,” El-Sayed declared in his victory speech in Detroit, referring also to the lobby group’s backing of the Democratic primary opponent he defeated in the summer."}],[{"start":347.64,"text":"Vance, who hails from the isolationist wing of the party, has expressed some scepticism of the exceptional relationship with Israel, warning the country in June that the US was its “only powerful ally”. He has declined to condemn rightwing political commentator Tucker Carlson, who has accused Israel of genocide and peddled antisemitic tropes."}],[{"start":368.48,"text":"After Vance posted his analysis of the Republican defeat on X on Wednesday, Republican mega-donor Clifford Asness accused the vice-president of trying to “blame the Jews”. It was a demonstration of the coming battles within a Republican Party underpinned heavily by the support of pro-Israel groups as it grapples with a shattering defeat in an election where Israel featured prominently."}],[{"start":389,"text":"Those debates will play out in Congress too, as new progressives such as El-Sayed confront a more traditionally centrist Democratic leadership."}],[{"start":397.52,"text":"After Tuesday’s result, however, the energy appears on the side of new members such as El-Sayed."}],[{"start":403.62,"text":"“See, they try to call you hateful if you believe that Palestinian kids should get to grow up in the land of their forefathers without being murdered by our tax dollars,” the senator-elect told a room packed progressives, some adorned with the colours of the Palestinian flag and keffiyehs."}],[{"start":418.84,"text":"“The change under way is going to intensify,” said Welch."}],[{"start":424.92,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793853214_9142.mp3"}