Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s once-insurmountable lead going into this month’s elections is no longer assured, according to new polling.  The problem is the speech that he gave before the US congress, which harmed his already-rocky relationship with the Obama Administration.

With a week to go until the polls open, some members of his ruling Likud party are quietly acknowledging that Israel might swing to the Center-Left.  A new poll shows that the Center-Left Zionist Union, a coalition between Labor and the Hatnua party, would win 25 seats in parliament, compared with 21 for the conservative Likud.

Even Likud’s former coalition partners in the centrist Yesh Atid party declared it would not support a new government led by Bibi Netanyahu.

“Something isn’t going the way it should.  Netanyahu’s speech to Congress last week should have created a turning point for us and strengthened Likud in the polls.  It’s clear that we didn’t achieve the desired outcome,” a senior Likud official told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.  

Netanyahu was invited to speak by US Congressional republicans, who bypassed longstanding diplomatic protocols that only the White House is to issue such invitations.  Netanyahu was given the cold shoulder by much of Washington as a result – top officials left town rather than be there, many Democrats boycotted the speech, and the White House didn’t invite Bibi over for an appearance.  It came off looking like a neo-conservative love fest with plenty of Iran-bashing. 

After taking part in an exercise that appeared to be a failed attempt to marginalize the US President, Bibi began blaming “outside forces” for his spiraling popularity.

“There is a huge global effort to bring down the Likud government,” Netanyahu told supporters on Monday, “This is a very close battle,” he added.  “Nothing is assured.”