President Obama wasn’t running against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – but it certainly felt like it at times. And while it may have been Isaac Herzog who went down in defeat, it is President Obama who was left looking like the loser. In a stunning eleventh-hour push, the four-time Prime Minister rocketed to a victory that seemed improbable just a week before.

Few could have predicted (and based on the polling, few did) the surge of Israel’s long-time leader, who, when all was said and done, picked up a five-seat advantage in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) for his Likud party. With the weight of the world literally on his shoulders, Netanyahu is still the person the Israeli people trust to lead in a crisis with Iran and ISIS. Americans got a glimpse of that leadership earlier this month when the Prime Minister came to the United States and showed the resolve we have yet to see from our own President.

For all the obstacles, all the resistance, Netanyahu made a dramatic comeback that could alter the geopolitical landscape in the Middle East. And no one could be more disappointed than President Obama. First, he lost the Congress – now, the Knesset.

Late [Tuesday] night, Israeli time, Joel Rosenberg joined us on Washington Watch to put the results in perspective. Unfortunately, he said, even with a consensus win, “This is no easy task forward for Netanyahu,” he warned. “What happens now is the President of the United States has doubled down to remove Netanyahu from office, refused to meet with him, wouldn’t let any of his Cabinet members go to the speech in Congress, sent his Secretary of State out of the country to meet with the enemy, Iran – not with the Prime Minister of Israel – (he) sends political operatives here to Israel to work to unseat Netanyahu… The Obama and Clinton teams have been explicit in trying to get rid of Benjamin Netanyahu, which means that if he is the next Prime Minster, the relationship with the U.S. will go into a deeper freeze.”

That’s difficult to imagine, given the last six years’ icy back-and-forth. Unlike President Obama, most Israelis don’t want a Palestinian state aligned with terrorists. Nor do they want to relax the world’s leash on a nuclear Iran. That’s why, as Joel put it, “This is probably the most monumental and consequential election in a generation.” When the world thought Netanyahu was finished, a majority of the 72% who turned out did so to vindicate the man American liberals were so desperate to unseat.

“It seems like the country agreed with his arguments,” Joel pointed out, “but it does set up a showdown unfortunately between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu over the next two years that could get much uglier, much more dangerous. The President isn’t listening to Congress, to his own allies…Israel, Jordan, or Egypt or Saudi Arabia, or even to his two Defense Secretaries… there’s something wrong in the way President Obama is leading, and Israelis are nervous that they’re going to get thrown under the bus.”

For now, though, there’s one person behind the wheel – and it isn’t Barack Obama. After [Tuesday] night, Benjamin Netanyahu will be driving the agenda in the Middle East – and America has a choice: it can get on board, or get out of the way.

Dems Kick Trafficking Bill to the Curb

Senate liberals don’t want to help victims – they want to create more! That’s the takeaway from [Tuesday’s] cloture vote on Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Texas) bill to limit human sex trafficking. The bill, which is a political no-brainer for both parties, came to a screeching halt last week, when Democrats feigned surprise that the legislation included a ban on taxpayer-funded abortion – standard operating procedure for any spending measure.

Still, the President’s party (which voted unanimously to send the bill to the floor) must have suddenly decided to read the proposal after passing it and erupted in protest that routine Hyde language was included. And while the Left may be able to play the American people, Senate Republicans know how manufactured the outrage is. “They all voted for the very same language in a bill in December,” Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told CNN on Sunday. “This is boilerplate language that has been in the law for almost 40 years that they all voted for three months ago in another bill.”

[Tuesday], McConnell brought the legislation up for a vote, hoping enough Democrats would come to their senses to break the 60-vote threshold it needed to win an up-or-down vote. But despite four Democrat crossovers (Sens. Bob Casey, Pa.; Joe Donnelly, Ind.; Heidi Heitkamp, N.D.; and Joe Manchin, Ill.), Republicans fell five votes short. Like us, Sen. Cornyn could only shake his head at the game-playing. Calling it a “sad day for the United States Senate,” he and others vowed to bring Senate business to a stop until the Left gives up their charade. “How is it that this legislation became a political football to re-litigate the Hyde Amendment?” Cornyn said. “Unfortunately, we know the abortion lobby has been working very hard to derail this legislation.”

For his part, Leader McConnell isn’t budging. Despite budget and Attorney General hopeful Loretta Lynch battles on the horizon, he intends to grind work to a halt until the two sides can come to an agreement. Help him reach one. Contact your senators and ask them to support the Hyde amendment in S.178.

Hate Couture? D&G Become Left’s New Targets

“The only family is the traditional one.” “A child needs a mother and a father.” “The family is not a fad. In it, there is a supernatural sense of belonging.” If you thought these were quotes from FRC experts, think again. They’re the public statements of two openly gay fashion designers: Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.

The minds behind the world-famous D&G brand have been creating more controversy than clothing lately, as the duo comes clean about their surprisingly conservative views. “We oppose gay adoptions,” the couple has said in the past. “I could not imagine my childhood without my mother. I also believe that it is cruel to take a baby away from its mother.” As expected, celebrities have turned on the pair with a ferocity that took the Italians by surprise. Singer Elton John has been the most vocal, calling Dolce and Gabbana’s thinking “archaic” and demanding a Tinsel town boycott of the popular line.

The backlash (one celebrity vowed to set her Dolce on fire) threw the designers for a loop. They’re learning, as we all have, that there’s no room in the Left’s debate for both sides. “I wasn’t expecting it,” Gabbana told reporters. “I wasn’t expecting it from someone like Elton John I used to think – and I stress ‘used to’ – was intelligent,” he continued. “What’s going on? You preach understanding. You preach tolerance. And then you put the knife in? All because someone else doesn’t see things your way? Is that supposed to be a democratic way of thinking? Enlightened? He’s ignorant, in the sense that he denies ways of seeing things that may not be his but are just as deserving of respect.”

It was a powerful statement – one that obviously hit a little too close to home. When it comes right down to it, there’s nothing more threatening to the homosexual political movement than homosexual people who tell the truth.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.