Netanyahu making it hard for Israel's friends to sustain their support

Even its biggest backer the Biden administration is feeling the strain over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and fearing the costs come election time.

- Ravi Velloor

Israel cannot be said to have too many friends in the world. Those that are Singapore, New Delhi, Washington or London - must surely wonder at the price Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is exacting from them for their loyalties and sympathies.

whether they live in At least two of these nations India and the US are headed for elections in 2024, and many voters are uneasy, if not plainly angry, over their leadership's support for the Jewish state at a time when the killings in Gaza in retaliation for the Oct 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel - are stirring the global conscience.

Electoral considerations aside, the events in Gaza filter through and impinge on other countries in different ways.

The controlled indignation and ire of Singapore's Minister for Home Affairs and Law K.Shanmugam over a controversial posting on the official Facebook page of the Israeli embassy since taken down - is emblematic of the difficulties that the Netanyahu government has placed in the way of friendly administrations elsewhere.

The post was made on March 24 and taken down that evening.

It claimed that Israel was mentioned 43 times in the Quran,that Palestine was not even mentioned once, and that there was archaeological evidence that the Jewish people were the indigenous people of the land.

"The post is wrong at many levels. First, it is insensitive and inappropriate. It carries a risk of undermining our safety, security and harmony in Singapore," Mr Shanmugam said.