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US Ambassador Mike Huckabee held a secret meeting with an Israeli opposition leader just weeks before this month’s hard-fought Knesset elections, Israel’s public broadcaster reported Thursday.
The broadcaster said Huckabee’s meeting with opposition Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot took place in recent days, in the runup to the Oct. 27 elections, and was their first and only meeting. It did not disclose where or when it was held.
Citing a source familiar with details of the previously unreported meeting, the broadcaster said their discussion covered security issues, including tensions in the occupied West Bank and occupier violence, as well as the situation in the Gaza Strip.
Neither the US ambassador nor Eisenkot’s office issued an official announcement about the meeting, while the Yashar party declined to comment, according to the broadcaster.
Meeting with Netanyahu canceled
In a related development, the broadcaster reported that another meeting, scheduled between Huckabee and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was canceled at the last minute.
It quoted an informed source as claiming that Netanyahu was the one who canceled the meeting, without giving the reason. No new date has been set, it added.
The disclosure of the two meetings, one held and one canceled, comes ahead of the Israeli elections scheduled for Oct. 27, amid anticipation over the US position on the electoral contest.
READ: Axios: Netanyahu discussed joint strike on Iran with Trump before Israeli election
Netanyahu has long touted his relationship with US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly praised him over the years.
Yet Trump had not announced his support for either Netanyahu or Eisenkot in the upcoming elections.
Traditionally, the US has avoided overt involvement in the internal politics of other countries, but Trump has broken the norm in that area.
A poll published by Israeli Channel 12 on Monday showed the opposition bloc leading Netanyahu’s camp, winning a possible 67 seats in the 120-member Knesset, compared with 49 for the governing coalition. At least 61 seats are required to form a government.
The poll also showed Eisenkot’s Yashar party leading with 23 seats, compared with 20 for Netanyahu’s Likud party.
Asked who would be a better prime minister, 45% favored Eisenkot, compared with 35% for Netanyahu.
Netanyahu has headed the current government since December 2022, leading a coalition widely described as the most right-wing in Israel’s history, as well as drawing international criticism for its actions in Gaza, the West Bank, and elsewhere.
Netanyahu also faces charges of corruption, bribery and breach of trust in three cases.
In addition to the domestic corruption trial, Netanyahu has also been wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) since 2024 over war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza Strip, where more than 74,000 people have been killed in Israel’s genocidal war since October 2023.
OPINION: Israel’s elections: Netanyahu wants more than victory; he wants to stop others from governing
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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