Israel must put restoring its global standing above domestic politics - opinion

Yedidia Stern argues that Israel's greatest threat is diplomatic collapse, especially in the United States, and calls for the next prime minister to prioritize restoring global standing over domestic politics. He urges excluding far-right parties from the coalition, bringing Ra'am into the government, and ending all military fronts.

Yedidia Stern, president of the Jewish People Policy Institute, argues that Israel's greatest threat is not military but diplomatic, particularly the loss of standing in the United States. He warns that a hostile U.S. president could be elected in two years, leading to consequences such as an arms embargo or exclusion from international banking. Stern calls for the next prime minister to make restoring global legitimacy the top priority, even above domestic politics. He urges excluding far-right parties from the coalition, bringing Ra'am into the government to counter apartheid allegations, and ending all military fronts in favor of diplomatic arrangements. Stern also argues that Benjamin Netanyahu should not be the first to serve as prime minister, as Israel's diplomatic standing collapsed on his watch. The framing relies on emotionally charged vocabulary without procedural sourcing.