Lindsey Graham tributes from Israel and Ukraine point to complicated, often bloody legacy

<p>Republican senator, who died Saturday, had a global reach few could rival and was vital in shaping Trump’s worldview</p><p>It was revealing that one of the first <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/12/lindsey-graham-death-tributes">tributes</a> to Lindsey Graham, a US senator who <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/12/lindsey-graham-key-ally-of-donald-trump-has-died-after-sudden-illness-his-office-says">died</a> on Saturday aged 71, came from Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, a far-right provocateur who recently <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2026/may/21/the-far-right-israeli-minister-taunting-detained-gaza-activists-the-latest">caused widespread anger</a> by sharing footage of himself taunting bound activists who had been trying to sail to Gaza with aid.</p><p>Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, was not far behind, calling Graham a “great friend of Israel and a cherished friend of mine”, and he was quickly followed by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, <a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2076230750748148175">who described him</a> as “a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer”.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/12/lindsey-graham-israel-ukraine-foreign-policy-legacy">Continue reading...</a>