Donald Trump has stood by his endorsement of Benjamin Netanyahu, claiming his backing saved the prime minister from an outright election loss Credit Reuters/Ronen Zvulun Daniella Cheslow 8:23am GMT Israel’s election deadlock has dashed hopes in Washington for a quick reset of the US-Israeli relationship, which has come under pressure during Benjamin Netanyahu’s tenure.

With all votes counted by Friday morning, neither the coalition led by Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party nor opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party and its bloc won enough seats for a majority in the 120-seat parliament.

At the final count, Mr Netanyahu’s bloc had 53 seats, Mr Eisenkot’s had 48 and the Arab parties had 19.

The results set the stage for a long process of factions trying to form a governing coalition. If neither succeeds, Israel could head into another round of elections.

Despite vociferous support from Donald Trump for Mr Netanyahu, factions within the administration and both parties in Congress had hoped the Israeli opposition would prevail and begin to undo years of worsening relations they attributed to the prime minister.

“It would be an opportunity to stop the bleeding, by virtue of governing Israel in a way that’s less provocative,” a former Trump administration official said of the mood in much of Washington after the results. “There is Netanyahu fatigue here.”The official, like others, was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive and dynamic situation.

Opponents of Mr Netanyahu’s government in Washington span the political spectrum: Both moderate and progressive Democrats, top Trump officials such as JD Vance, the vice-president, and parts of the Maga base that resent US involvement in foreign wars.

While Mr Netanyahu has congressional allies such as Ted Cruz, the chairman of the Republican commerce committee, and John Fetterman, a Democratic senator, the drumbeat of criticism has been pronounced.

Chris Murphy, another Democratic senator, argued that Mr Netanyahu was an impediment to the US extricating itself from the Iran war.

At a Middle East Institute event on Wednesday, Mr Murphy said: “If he is re-elected, he will continue to be a very influential voice in Trump’s ear to continue to pursue regime change [in Iran].”Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition won the most votes but fell short of a coalition Getty Images/Alexi J Rosenfeld The election stalemate means Mr Netanyahu will still be the decisionmaker in Israel as the US goes into the midterms next week, and could maintain his grip on power long after.

Mr Netanyahu, who has been in office on and off since the mid-1990s, is the face of many of Israel’s policies that are unpopular among American voters. Those include the IDF campaign that has killed at least 74,000 Palestinians in Gaza in retaliation for the deadly 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, as well his rejection of a Trump-backed plan to disarm Hamas in the Strip and his encouragement of the US’s war in Iran.

Mr Trump stood by his endorsement of Mr Netanyahu on Wednesday, contending that his backing had helped the Israeli leader avoid an outright loss But Mr Netanyahu has also repeatedly frustrated Mr Trump, who once called the Israeli leader “crazy”.

Matthew Bartlett, who served in the state department during the first Trump administration, said Republicans were split on Israel, and that Mr Trump himself had articulated that divide.

“He will one day openly talk about his hostilities and intense conversations with Mr Netanyahu, including profanity, and the next day, talk about the relationship and be lockstep in kinetic strikes,” he said. “It’s a bit schizophrenic.”Mr Trump’s endorsement of Mr Netanyahu, who is also known as Bibi, stemmed from both their personal relationship and tactical considerations, according to a former White House official who is still in touch with the US president’s inner circle.

The former official said: “Endorsing Bibi ensures continuity and friendship if Likud defies gravity yet again.

“If we have Eisenkot or someone new, they’re going to need the president more than ever to introduce them to America and the world.”Republican Israel supporters may be hoping for a more subtle change in Israel’s government than a full unseating of Mr Netanyahu, the former White House official said.

That could include a unity government that excludes the most extreme Israeli leaders in Mr Netanyahu’s current cabinet, Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister. “They make life hard,” the former official said of the pair.

Mr Smotrich has accelerated the construction of settlements in the West Bank, while Mr Ben-Gvir has called for harsh conditions for Palestinians held in Israel’s prisons. Both have advocated the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

Another former official who served in the first Trump administration said the White House was likely to want an Israeli government that was “more compliant” than Mr Netanyahu’s.

They said: “Smotrich and Ben-Gvir in the government would undermine almost every one of Trump’s visions for how he, Trump, comes out a winner on Middle East peace.”That problem could be solved with Mr Netanyahu still in charge they explained. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A ‘giant schism’ over Israel Dan Shapiro, who served at the US ambassador to Israel under the Obama administration, said: “The deterioration in Israel’s standing among the American public is visible in every poll, across all demographics.

“It’s especially true among younger Americans, and much of that negativity attaches to Netanyahu.”Some Democratic politicians who support Israel have tried to bring their divided party together around the idea that Mr Netanyahu was the driver of Israel’s problematic conduct.

For example, Chuck Schumer, the minority leader in the Senate, has come out as a strong opponent of Mr Netanyahu over the past year, while still advocating for assistance to Israel’s military. Mr Schumer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The distinction between Mr Netanyahu’s leadership and Israel’s actions is now harder to make.

“There is a giant schism” over Israel in the GOP, said Mr Bartlett, the former Trump state department official.

Mr Vance admonished Israel that it had nearly no friends left in the world, and defended a memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran that Israel had blasted.

Notably, he declined to endorse Mr Netanyahu, though he stressed that he was simply deciding not to weigh in. A spokesman for Mr Vance did not respond to a request for comment.