Haaretz op-ed: Lindsey Graham’s death leaves Israel without a clear voice in Trump’s ear

Well, I guess Mark Levin and Ben Shapiro will have to step up their game.
“Graham’s hits on Fox News and his posts on X concerning Israel and the Middle East were often messages effectively lifted from Netanyahu’s mind and aimed at an audience of one.”

Ben Samuels:

Americans woke up on Sunday to the shocking news of Sen. Lindsey Graham’s unexpected death. They also rose to the universal outpouring of condolences and mourning from Israeli officials across the political spectrum – who typically fail to agree on little else – alongside remembrances from families of October 7 hostages and pro-Israel advocates, who absorbed the news in real time thanks to the overnight announcement of his passing by Graham’s office.

It is fitting that the first iterations of Graham’s obituaries and eulogies were written by the country that came to singularly define his legacy as the primary Republican advocate for Middle East interventionism, who nearly always pushed U.S. policy in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s desired direction.

Graham’s domestic political legacy will undoubtedly be viewed as a case study of our time. He was a man who unequivocally dedicated his life to public service, long considered a maverick alongside his best friends John McCain and Joe Lieberman, all of whom would buck party groupthink in favor of pursuing what they deemed right.

This once extended to Graham’s fierce opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump during his initial political ascendance, only to cross his previously marked lines in the sand with increasing audacity in order to bring himself closer into Trump’s orbit.

Perhaps no leader in the world benefited from this more than Netanyahu. Graham, like no other U.S. lawmaker or adviser, consistently had Trump’s full attention on matters relating to foreign policy. He served as both a private middleman between Trump and Netanyahu, but also as a megaphone for pushing Netanyahu’s party line in public forums.

It was true during Trump’s first term but even more so during his current stint in the White House: Graham’s hits on Fox News and his posts on X concerning Israel and the Middle East were often messages effectively lifted from Netanyahu’s mind and aimed at an audience of one.

Graham’s advocacy clearly made a difference, and he knew how to speak Trump’s language like few others. From the moment he was on Air Force One alongside Trump wearing a “Make Iran Great Again” hat, it was clear that Netanyahu had a voice firmly planted in Trump’s ear.

Even when Graham would publicly urge Israel to pump the brakes, it was clear that it was more about coaching Israel on how to navigate choppy waters in Washington than it was about slapping Israel on the wrist.

Right until his last moments of life, Graham maintained a mile-high view of Israel’s standing in both Washington and the greater Middle East. He continuously pushed for normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, even when it became abundantly clear that there was no bandwidth for such a paradigm-shifting development, to the point where it almost felt as though he was trying to will the breakthrough into existence.

Graham’s death is a significant blow to Israel’s influence on Trump’s thinking at a time when so much of its regional concerns are on the precipice. His passing, however, represents so much more. There is no logical successor among GOP hawks who possesses his charisma, access, and blatant embrace of ladder-climbing.

His death comes at a time when Republicans are openly disputing like never before about the party’s future, and when Israel has come to play a central role in the GOP’s hostile debates. Israel’s standing in America only stands to continue its downward spiral with both parties and with young people across the political spectrum. Now that Graham is gone, it is unclear who will take up the mantle. It is unclear if anyone even can.