RSS influence 'again' in focus as BJP national team is set to be announced and PM Modi may appoint new Governors and 'reshuffle' his ministry

Some kind of astronomical and astrological and politico-logical calculations were done. 

Sources say the announcement in BJP's new team of office bearers and the proposed mega reshuffle of the Modi cabinet may come anytime now. June 22 Monday was one sort of a deadline or a 'beginning line'.

 

There is a guessing game that around 30-35 per cent of the existing leadership is expected to remain in place. But steps will be taken to bring several leaders currently active at the state level and even district level directly into national politics. 

"We do not ignore the fact that 12 year is often a big time space in politics. A man who was 60 in 2014 is now 72.... this obvious fact is into consideration. Similarly, a 20-year-young BJP karyakarta is now 32 and can take any major responsibility," says an informed source. 

Other dynamics are also involved. The NDA as a coalition has grown into multiple shapes and forms in the last 12 years. Moreover, more changes are happening too. The sudden supply of MPs in both the Houses at the cost of nearly fatal-end of regional satraps such as Uddhav Thackeray and Mamata Banerjee will also have to be scrutinised closely.

The government's priority is a few legislative agenda and that include women quota and the Delimitation Exercise. The entire nation's political landscape and sociial-equations related to these will change in the next few months if not earlier.

Reports suggest, possible names have already been discussed with Organisation General Secretary B L Santhosh and other senior party functionaries including the likes of Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh. PM Narendra Modi is himself monitoring things. 

The RSS factor is also being weighed in. The BJP will still require foot soldiers from the Sanghparivar.

In July 2024, the Modi government (3.0) lifted a 58-year-old ban that restricted government employees from participating in RSS activities, allowing closer ties between the bureaucracy and the organisation.

Among the women, those being considered are Kamaljeet Sehrawat (Delhi), Kangana Ranaut (Himachal Pradesh), Vanathi Srinivasan (National President of Mahila Morcha), Smriti Irani (former Women and Child Development Minister), Sandhya Ray (Madhya Pradesh), Mahima Kumari Mewar (Rajasthan) and Locket Chatterjee (West Bengal).  

Some key figures currently in the government may be assigned responsibilities within the organisation. Should PM Modi also touch key portfolio like Finance vis-a-vis Nirmala Sitharaman or External Affairs Minister like Dr S Jaishankar remain to be seen.

More than half of new office-bearers could be below 50, reflecting the party’s push to promote younger leadership. In the past a number of RSS leaders were made Governors across India.

P B Acharya, La Ganesan in Nagaland. 

In January 2017, V. Shanmuganathan, the then-Governor of Meghalaya and a veteran RSS activist, had resigned following serious allegations of misconduct.

Others in the list included: 

Haribhau Kisanrao Bagde: Appointed Governor of Rajasthan. Gulab Chand Kataria - Governor of Assam (later shifted to Punjab).

O P Mathur - Appointed Governor of Sikkim. 
Ramen Deka from Assam - appointed Governor of Chhattisgarh.
Jishnu Dev Varma: Former Deputy CM of Tripura, appointed Governor of Telangana. 

C.P. Radhakrishnan: From Tamil Nadu made Jharkhand Governor. Later shifted to Maharashtra and is now Vice President of India. 

New Nagaland Governor Nand Kishore Yadav also has RSS association. Union Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar also has Sangh background and was Haryana chief minister for 10 years. 

For records : Key Union Ministers with RSS Backgrounds 
Narendra Modi - Prime Minister,  Others -- Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, J P Nadda, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Bhupender Yadav and Dharmendra Pradhan. 

Should Modi oblige the protesters and change his Education Minister?

Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, has strong roots in the RSS. His father, Gangadharrao Fadnavis, was a prominent pracharak.  

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s intellectual inputs are always valuable.  

Mohan Bhagwat and his team were engaged in different formats. 

In one such meeting around 2018-19; Bhagwat reportedly said – “Human beings are always at different stages of evolution … hence all of us belong to the same species and same nationhood of Hinduness must be stressed”. 

All these remarks made more relevance once 2024 election results came in. 

For Maharashtra and Haryana state elections; all differences between BJP and RSS and other wings such as Bajrang Dal were forgotten. 

The ‘united’ efforts and good coordination between BJP and RSS leaders and key government functionaries both in the centre and the state levels yielded good dividends.

The Haryana-Maharashtra model was adopted for the Delhi assembly election too. And in West Bengal, such a historic success is not possible without effective coordination.  

****

Even day-to-day issues like Delhi’s pollution, Yamuna cleanliness, family values and corruption were discussed. Over 400,000 (4 lakh) people reportedly attended the RSS drawing room meetings across Delhi. At one point such small gathering numbers went up to 50,000 in the run-up to voting day.  

The essence of Good Governance is linked to politics and powerplay. 

By that logic all governance projects and schemes should actually ensure that the fruits of development reach ‘Daridranarayan’ - the faceless common and poor Indian – as believed by RSS ideologues. 

An organic chemistry between various governmental wings and the RSS-backed organisations and the Sanghpaivar fountainhead is minimum expectation.

In a meeting in 2014 (within months Narendra Modi was PM); HRD Minister Smriti Irani was told by Suresh Soni and a few other RSS ideologues that the ideology hold must be strengthened on the BJP and crucial government departments.

It was argued the “Congress suffered” immensely in terms of people's perception and a party’s value system and principles because - it was influenced and guided by ministers. 

Under Modi, hence it was a deliberate decision that the BJP and RSS should continue to “guide” the ministers and even prescribe “Dos and Don’ts” for critical ministries.

The decision to frame a New Education Policy (NEP) was taken long back around 2014 itself. And after many twists and turns today the NEP bears the clear imprint of of the RSS ideology or Hindutva punctuated cleverly with adjectives around ancient civilizational values and neo nationalism. 

PM himself had made it clear that his vision on ‘New India’ will be around Uniform Civil Code, emphasis on Patriotism, Cultural Unity and moral roots. 

Insiders say all throughout despite blow-hot and blow-cold time ‘problems’ between Nagpur and BJP on who will be next BJP president – all these critical meetings went on unhindered. “We are committed to Nation First … so small issues do not matter," is the refrain from key BJP ministers – who have been with the RSS and the BJP lifelong.

It was also decided that necessary ground would have to be done by “reworking in school textbooks and higher education syllabi” to suit the anti-Muslim slant. 

Reportedly, the then Finance Minister Late Arun Jaitley was tasked to ‘evolve’ mechanism under which –

Financial support was to be extended by the government (s) – Central and states – to the RSS-inspired organisations. This included sponsoring workshops and seminars. (Many say a few experts with Left wing experience were also approached for their inputs.) 

Old timers reveal that there are over 30 RSS-inspired organisations that are formally recognized by Nagpur.

West Bengal and Tripura reportedly figured prominently around 2016-17 especially after West Bengal elections of 2016 when Mamata returned to power. 

The timing was important as Tripura went to polls in early 2018 and as an experiment few ‘time-tested’ RSS hands were deputed to work in Tripura.

Blogger and former Nagaland Governor La Ganesan (ex RSS leader from Tamil Nadu) 

The ‘Chalo Paltai’ slogan was reportedly mooted first by a retired government official and the BJP realised later that the move would pay them dividends. The Marxists were defeated in Tripura in 2018.

Around that time, Amit Shah was asked by ‘karyakartas’ once whether Bengali mindset has been changed as people in Tripura voted overwhelmingly for the BJP shunning their earlier intellectual trappings.

Shah’s response: “This is half-truth… Bengali Hindus in Tripura were victims of Partition once and hence naturally they could come to the BJP". 

This was not the case with West Bengal where communists and Islamic influence were far old and far stronger. 

ends 

"Political journey ends for Pishi-Bhaipo" ::: Arup Roy, MLA from Howrah Madhya, replaces Mamata as "new chairperson of real Trinamool Congress" :::: Abhishek suspended

Arup Roy, MLA from Howrah Madhya, replaced Mamata Banerjee as the new chairperson of the party.  

The 'Ritabrata camp' - already officially recognised as genuine opposition party in the West Bengal assembly - held a meeting at a hotel in New Town.

The conclave attended by 60 MLAs and 70 councillors of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation decided to suspend Abhishek Banerjee, the onetime powerful 'bhai po' of Mamata.   

Arup Roy 

The rebel camp claimed the meeting was convened to address what it termed a "constitutional crisis" within the organisation.

Addressing the session, Ritabrata Banerjee (recognised LoP in state assembly) argued that the party's constitution mandated the formation of a national working committee every three years and that the last such panel had been constituted in February 2022.

"The organisational structure was not renewed after the expiry of its tenure. Therefore, it became necessary to initiate the process of reconstituting the party's national leadership," Ritabrata Banerjee has been quoted saying.  

Ritabrata Banerjee, a former CPI-M leader, represents Uluberia Purba in the present House. He recently led a mega split in the TMC legislative wing and has able to muster the support of as many as 60 legislators.

The move comes days after the Trinamool (those under Mamata Banerjee’s leadership) expelled Ritabrata Banerjee for alleged anti-party activities. In a reversal on Monday, June 22, the “real Trinamool” formed a new party committee and turned the tables by taking disciplinary action against Abhishek Banerjee. 

With the latest development, the Trinamool Congress now stands divided into three camps — 

the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool, 

Ritabrata Banerjee’s “real TMC”, which is now opposition party in the Bengal Assembly, 

and about two dozen Lok Sabha MPs of the party, who have merged with a little known political outfit called the National Citizens Party and lend support to ruling NDA in Parliament.

The latest suspension has only added to the confusion over who represents the party's true leadership and ideological core.

The rebel MPs have indicated that they will go to the Supreme Court to claim the party logo while confusion still remains on who gets the Rs 1,100 crore war chest.  

Senior Congress leader and MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor, said:

"I don't think anyone has any very serious doubt that either some inducements, some incentives or some threats have been involved. And that can only come from the ruling party because they have the power".

“Also, as you know, the biggest group that split away, namely the 20 MPs of the Trinamool Congress, have openly said they will now align with the NDA. 

These are the same party MPs who have been attacking the NDA day in and day out for the last 12 years. So, suddenly, to find all this virtue suggests that our country's politics has become a politics without principles. And that is rather sad...,” he told IANS news agency.

ends 

Keir Starmer quits as UK PM, sixth leader in 10 years to step down :::: A "vital lesson" for Andy Burnham --- First impressions are everything

Keir Starmer quits as UK PM, sixth leader in 10 years to step down

Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation after months of pressure from Labour lawmakers, paving the way for a leadership contest as the United Kingdom prepares for its seventh leader in a little over a decade.  

Andy Burnham’s comprehensive victory in the Makerfield byelection, surpassing expectations, was a precious moment. He demolished £5m-Nigel Farage’s party of loathsome Reformers, whose every election candidate seems more repugnant than the last. 

Hostile hard-right politics in Britain needs defeating time and time again, every time nativists and hate-stirrers – from Enoch Powell to the BNP – erupt in our politics.

No one but Andy Burnham could have stamped out Reform in a part of Greater Manchester where it had just won every council seat only last month.  

Starmer stepped out of 10 Downing Street with his wife, Victoria, receiving cheers and applause, before delivering his resignation statement. He also recalled his arrival at Downing Street two years ago as "the proudest moment" of his life and said he entered politics with the aim of changing the lives of millions of people.

Reflecting on the Labour Party's landslide victory in the 2024 general election, Starmer highlighted what he described as the achievements of his government. He pointed to economic growth, rising wages, increased investment, infrastructure projects, falling NHS waiting lists, improved rights for workers and renters, higher defence spending, reduced small boat crossings and efforts to tackle child poverty.  

In his resignation speech, Starmer acknowledged that he no longer had the backing of enough Labour lawmakers to lead the party into the next general election, due in 2029.

"The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election. 

I have heard the answer from my parliamentary party to that question and I accept that answer with good grace," he said.

The announcement marked a dramatic reversal for Starmer, who had spent weeks insisting he would fight any challenge to his leadership. Reports suggested he spent the weekend at his country residence reflecting on his future as support within Labour continued to ebb away.

The first 100 days of Starmer regime saw much good done: 

- rail nationalised, 

- bills introduced to improve renters’ and workers’ rights, 

- bus services freed up to local control, free school breakfast clubs rolled out, good public-sector pay deals, 

- and restrictions on onshore windfarms ended. 

But so much of what his government accomplished was visible only to political obsessives.

But what did catch the public eye, just a month into power, was that 

unexpected cut in pensioners’ winter fuel allowance: 

cue stock images in the minds of voters of cold old folk wrapped in blankets. 

If only they had abolished the two-child benefit cap the same day, an old-to-young swap would have resonated well. The other eye-catcher was making farmers pay inheritance tax on a level a bit closer to everyone else’s: cue picturesque tractor protests.  

Starmer always lacked a sense of political theatre, but reports of free suits, glasses and gig tickets offered all too vivid imagery, deeply damaging a new, clean regime. 

ends 

Swapan Dasgupta says "more funds for MLAs", study for metro rail projects in Durgapur, Asansol and Siliguri :::::: One lakh vacancies, including 20,000 posts in the police and 50,000 teaching and non-teaching positions in schools, would be filled

The West Bengal Budget for 2026-27 announced that one lakh vacancies, including 20,000 posts in the police and 50,000 teaching and non-teaching positions in schools, would be filled in phases.

State Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta said 33 per cent of the jobs would be reserved for women, while 10 per cent reservation would be provided for Agniveers wherever applicable.

"The upper age limit for government recruitment, already relaxed by five years, would continue for the next two years," he said.  

Bengal budget hikes DA for state staff, women’s dole beneficiaries to be reduced by 1.4 crore

Swapan Dasgupta also announces more funds for MLAs, deep-sea port at Dadanpatrabar, bridge in Birbhum and study for metro rail projects in Durgapur, Asansol and Siliguri 

20 percentage point hike in dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees, 

Rs 36,000-crore outlay for the Annapurna Yojana and 

reducing beneficiaries of the women’s dole by 1.4 crore were some of the highlights 

Dasgupta said all existing social welfare schemes would continue.

Annapurna Yojana slashes beneficiaries

Dasgupta announced an allocation of Rs 36,000 crore for the Annapurna Yojana, under which women in the 25-60 age group will receive financial assistance of Rs 3,000 per month directly in their bank accounts.

The budget estimates indicate coverage of 1 crore women beneficiaries, substantially lower than the around 2.4 crore beneficiaries under the Trinamool’s flagship welfare programme.

Dasgupta announced the allocation, describing the scheme as a major component of the government's welfare agenda.

Introduced in 2021, Lakshmir Bhandar emerged as one of the most popular welfare schemes of the Mamata Banerjee government, providing monthly financial assistance to women from eligible households. 

The scheme was subsequently expanded, and the TMC government had claimed that around 2.4 crore women were receiving benefits.

After assuming office, the BJP government has renamed the programme as Annapurna Yojana.

Government sources said the scheme has been designed with revised eligibility norms and enhanced verification mechanisms aimed at ensuring that benefits reach intended recipients and eliminating alleged duplication.

The state government has said it already weeded out 30 lakh beneficiaries based on verification.

The government had sought online applications requiring family details, which has caused concerns and apprehensions about disclosing family income and other household details.

The BJP maintained that the objective is to make welfare delivery more targeted and fiscally sustainable while ensuring support for genuinely eligible beneficiaries.

The budget also earmarked Rs 550 crore for free bus travel for women.

"A 'Pink Card' system will be introduced shortly for availing the benefit," Dasgupta said.

ends 

More trouble ahead for TMC? BJP govt may table CAG reports of last 4 years :::: TMC 'split' battles also concern war over Rs 1100 crore 'white money' empire

Trinamool Congress split spills into cash battle as rebels target Rs 1,100-crore war chest

Deliberate strategy by dissidents to sever Mamata-Abhishek's access to 'white money' in banks  

The massive financial apparatus built during Trinamool Congress’s 15-year run in power has become a key battlefield, with the dissident bloc moving to legally freeze a legitimate “white-money” war chest with over Rs 1,100 crore.

Now, the party’s wealth is trapped in an internal coup. In Trinamool’s audited accounts submitted to the Election Commission in October 2025, signed by none other than the now “compromised” and removed treasurer Aroop Biswas, the party held Rs 1,018.78 crore in declared assets on March 31, 2025.

Mamata Banerjee loyalists state that this figure rose beyond Rs 1,100 crore by May 31 this year.

Multiple sources within the Ritabrata Banerjee-led rebel bloc said that this audited figure represents only a partial view of the “white” liquidity of Mamata and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, claiming an extra Rs 300-500 crore in legitimate money exists across small accounts and regional trusts not visible in the overall filings submitted to the EC.  

“The total goes up to over Rs 1,500 crore. We have definite information,” said a rebel bloc source. “A substantial chunk of the Rs 1,600-plus crore made from electoral bonds is just hawa (vanished) already... we don’t want the same to happen to the money in banks.”

Public records show that Trinamool ran the second-most successful funding harvest in the country through the now-defunct electoral bond scheme, pulling in Rs 1,609.53 crore. Surpassing even the Congress, Trinamool trailed only the BJP.

Rebel sources confirmed they are executing a deliberate strategy to sever Kalighat from money in banks. The offensive began taking physical shape with a directive sent by Biswas to a private bank in south Calcutta, demanding immediate status quo on all debit transactions.

More trouble ahead for TMC? BJP govt may table CAG reports of last 4 years

Already facing charges of widespread corruption during its 15 years in power in West Bengal, more trouble possibly awaits the Trinamool Congress (TMC) as the new BJP government is likely to table reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) from the last four years during the ongoing Budget session in the state Assembly.

The last CAG report tabled in the Assembly by the previous TMC government was for the 2020-21 financial year. 

Since then, the TMC government did not table the auditor’s reports for the 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25 financial years despite the directions of then Governor C V Ananda Bose.

“The CAG reports always flagged corrupt practices of the TMC government. Naturally, the state government was not happy with the CAG reports and did not want them to be published,” said a senior state Finance Department official.

While the Suvendu Adhikari government will present the Budget for the current financial year on Monday, it is not clear when the CAG reports will be released. 

The current Assembly session will continue until June 25, and will resume on July 6 after a brief recess.  The CAG has flagged that from 2011 to 2020 the West Bengal government did not submit utilisation certificates (UCs) amounting to Rs 2.29 lakh crore of Central grants. 

The UCs are documents submitted by the beneficiaries of grants, or welfare schemes and projects, endorsing the receipt and proper utilisation of funds. 

As per the state government’s rules, UCs have to be collected from grantees within a year of disbursal of grants by officers of the department through which the funds had been disbursed.

“It is assumed that UCs are not submitted if the funds have not been utilised properly and have been misappropriated,” said an official.

The 2020-21 CAG report stated that the state Panchayat and Rural Development Department had the maximum pendency of UCs (81,950 UCs, amounting to Rs 81,839 crore), followed by the School Education Department (38,117 UCs for Rs 36,850 crore), and the Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Department (34,837 UCs for Rs 30,693 crore).

“In the absence of UCs, it could not be ascertained whether the recipients had utilised the grants for the purposes for which these were given. 

This assumes greater importance as pendency in non-submission of UCs is fraught with the risk of misappropriation,” the report stated, adding that despite successive audit reports flagging the issue of non-submission of UCs, the TMC government remained unaffected.

In that last tabled report, the CAG also flagged the “non-submission of detailed contingent (DC) bills” years after funds were withdrawn from the state exchequer through abstract contingent (AC) bills.

Money is drawn from the exchequer through AC bills in case of contingencies such as floods, erosion, droughts, and other natural disasters, or to provide relief and meet other contingency expenses for events and happenings that are unforeseen. 

The state government’s rules stipulate that DC bills with clearer and verifiable details of the funds withdrawn through AC bills have to be submitted within a maximum period of 60 days of the withdrawal of funds.

The report stated that as of March 2021, 11,321 DC bills totalling Rs 3,400 crore had not been submitted. “Pending DC bills reflect accounting indiscipline by government functionaries and controlling authorities, leading to risk of fraud, temporary misappropriation and embezzlement of funds,” the auditor said.

ends

A "brief walkout" by Iran, a stunned Pakistani delegation and a watchful J D Vance already become defining image of the day ::: Iran’s negotiating team leaves Switzerland after ‘constructive progress’ in first round of talks

Iran walked out, JD Vance watched, Pakistanis stunned as cameras kept rolling 

'Major progress' made to end Israel's war in Lebanon, Iranian foreign minister says

In a post on X on Monday morning following the end of the first session of talks in Switzerland, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said “major progress” had been made to end Israel’s war in Lebanon.

“Oil and petrochem exports are waived, blockade lifted, some frozen assets released, and major reconstruction & development plan launched for Iran. 1st real test: Lebanon deconfliction cell.”

Pak PM Sharif left visibly surprised by the sudden departure and was later seen gesturing towards Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir. 

Standing only a few feet away, US Vice President JD Vance watched the scene unfold before approaching the Pakistani delegation.

The Iranian delegation eventually returned to the negotiating table. 

But by then, a brief walkout, a surprised Pakistani delegation and a watchful JD Vance had already become the defining image of the day. 

According to Iranian state media, tensions surfaced even before formal discussions began. Tehran refused to participate in a planned joint photo opportunity with the American delegation, dismissing it as a US "media show".

The incident took place during the opening round of negotiations under the recently signed Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which brought together Iran, the United States, Pakistan and Qatar in an effort to reduce tensions following weeks of military escalation in the region.

The first round of high-stakes US-Iran talks in Switzerland took a dramatic turn on Sunday when the Iranian delegation briefly walked out of the venue after objecting to President Donald Trump's latest threat against Tehran, triggering an awkward diplomatic moment that played out before Pakistani and American officials.

A video from the Burgenstock resort, where the talks were being held, quickly went viral after it captured Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi briefly speaking to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif before turning around and leaving the room with members of the Iranian delegation.  

Iranian officials later objected to Trump's latest warning that Tehran would face fresh military action if it failed to rein in Hezbollah in Lebanon.  

"Iran must immediately stop their highly paid proxies in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don't, we'll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder," Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly before the talks.

Iranian media later linked the delegation's brief walkout to both the planned photo-op and Trump's remarks. A source quoted by Iranian state broadcaster Press TV said Tehran had formally conveyed its objections to the American side and was assessing its response to what it described as Washington's threats.

The footage from the venue attracted attention because it offered a rare glimpse into the tensions surrounding one of the highest-level encounters between Iranian and American officials in years.

Besides Vance, the US delegation included special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, while Pakistan's mediation team was led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Asim Munir alongside Qatari officials.

Despite the tense exchanges, the talks did not collapse.

Iranian officials said discussions continued for around 80 minutes and focused on key issues including sanctions relief, the release of frozen Iranian funds and implementation of commitments under the Islamabad MoU.

Tehran has repeatedly said its primary objective is to ensure that Washington follows through on the understandings reached earlier this month.  

There were also signs of limited progress. A member of the Iranian negotiating team told state media that executive procedures related to the release of frozen Iranian assets had begun with Qatari participation. The official also claimed that a draft concerning waivers on Iranian oil sanctions had been finalised and could be implemented in the near future.

For all the attention generated by the viral video, the brief walkout ultimately underscored the fragile nature of the negotiations. While cameras captured a visible moment of friction between the two sides, diplomats continued talking behind closed doors in an attempt to salvage momentum for a process that both Washington and Tehran have said remains important.

Whether Sunday's tensions prove to be a temporary setback or an early warning sign for the talks may become clearer in the rounds that follow. 

For now, a few seconds of footage from a Swiss resort have come to symbolise just how delicate the path towards a broader understanding between Iran and the United States remains.  

Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed yesterday to keep Israeli troops in the so-called “security zone” in southern Lebanon “for as long as necessary”, claiming this is to protect northern Israel from Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group.

“As prime minister of Israel, I insist on this unequivocally, and nothing will change it,” seemingly referring to his increasingly strained relationship with the US president, Donald Trump, who has said Netanyahu has been using disproportionate force in the attacks against Hezbollah, in which civilians are often killed. 

ends 

In many respects, Israel’s longest-serving PM is YESTERDAY's Man.:::::: What has US achieved from 'Iran deal' ?? :::: An emboldened Iran and Netanyahu may not survive !! :::: Israeli leader’s “solution” was always Extreme !!!

What has the Israeli PM’s whirlwind of violence achieved? His closest ally now turning against him – and an emboldened Iran  

Donald Trump may survive the humiliation of the Iran deal. 

Netanyahu will not  

The lawless violence that invariably made matters worse.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the biggest loser in last week’s preliminary deal to halt the US-Israel-Iran war, will be remembered – and reviled – as the man who put the Middle East to the sword. 

Whether the “problem” was Hamas in Gaza, 

illegal West Bank land seizures, 

supposed Israeli-Arab fifth columnists, 

peace campaigners’ aid flotillas, 

Hezbollah in Lebanon, 

hostile militias in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, or Tehran’s hardline Islamic regime, the Israeli leader’s “solution” was always the same: extreme, often lawless violence that invariably made matters worse.  

His political obituary reads like a criminal indictment. 

For decades, Netanyahu resisted a two-state solution with the Palestinians. He failed to prevent the terrible Hamas atrocities of 7 October 2023, then visited genocidal vengeance on Gaza. 

"He clung to power by giving far-right politicians key government roles, to his country’s lasting chagrin and shame. He undermined the internationally endorsed 2015 nuclear pact with Iran, whose subsequent repudiation by a credulous Trump led directly to this year’s disastrous, self-defeating conflict," says Simon Tisdall in 'The Guardian'.  

"The unprovoked, illegal war against Iran was the ultimate expression of the Netanyahu doctrine – the disproportionate application of brute force. 

Predictably, it too, has failed. Donald Trump is desperately arguing that the ceasefire memorandum he signed in Versailles (of all places!) is not the lame capitulation it so self-evidently is. 

But while the US president may survive this humiliation – despite global scepticism and mockery – the likely consequences of the debacle for Netanyahu, his brother-in-harms, are career-ending serious."  

Yet the main reason Netanyahu is now hurtling towards political oblivion, even as autumn elections approach, is none of the above. It’s because he has poisoned and perhaps fatally weakened the vital US-Israel “special relationship”. 

He and Trump are barely on speaking terms. Fairly or not, the White House, and an American public already shocked and alienated by Israel’s war on Gaza, blame him for drawing the US into an unwinnable fight on the basis of glib predictions of easy victory and regime collapse.