Once again, Benjamin Netanyahu is Israel’s prime minister. His return, however, has not heralded political resurrection. Instead, in less than two weeks, he has rejuvenated the country’s center and left in ways their own recent campaigns failed to do. His embrace of the radical right and religious hardliners is now exacting a steep price at home and abroad.
By the numbers, one recent poll shows)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.timesofisrael.com/tv-poll-says-netanyahus-bloc-would-lose-majority-if-fresh-elections-held/__;!!LsXw!UFDVYbSKVje_WHGNtqHl8VO7InmdKePWhGp0Cfbe-hgGg2_Y9m-lLUQoERKbSa52BtC7epbLO1WGJ3l70YXp4O0f$">one recent poll shows Netanyahu and his coalition partners losing six seats and control of the Knesset, the country’s parliament. Fortunately for him and his allies, elections are not on the horizon.
Netanyahu’s latest tenure is shaping up as a series of self-induced headaches and missteps, the product of his all-out effort to short-circuit his ongoing bribery and corruption trial. Practically speaking, he has ceded control of the government to Israel’s extremes.
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Think “my country for a horse” meets “l’état, c’est moi,” and you get the picture. Only Kevin McCarthy acts more desperate.
Earlier this month, Netanyahu waived his objections to Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s minister of public security (and a disciple of the late racist extremist and convicted terrorist Meir Kahane) visiting the Temple Mount. Suffice to say, Ben-Gvir’s walk on the wild side went badly, earning Netanyahu and Israel a trip under a global microscope.
Days later, the prime minister’s office advised that Netanyahu would not be traveling to the United Arab Emirates in the near future, blaming the about-face on “logistics.”)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2023/01/03/israels-new-government-will-test-the-ties-with-arab-states__;!!LsXw!UFDVYbSKVje_WHGNtqHl8VO7InmdKePWhGp0Cfbe-hgGg2_Y9m-lLUQoERKbSa52BtC7epbLO1WGJ3l70abmMYSY$">blaming the about-face on “logistics.” On top of that, the UAE and China, two of Netanyahu’s much-vaunted friends, bluntly reminded him that their affection came with strings attached.
Specifically, the pair called for the recent UN Security Council meeting that focused on Ben-Gvir’s controversial stroll in the shadow of the Dome of the Rock. For its part, Oman, once thought to be the next signatory of the Abraham Accords, has criminalized relations with Israel)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.jta.org/2023/01/04/global/oman-once-thought-to-be-next-abraham-accords-signer-criminalizes-relations-with-israel__;!!LsXw!UFDVYbSKVje_WHGNtqHl8VO7InmdKePWhGp0Cfbe-hgGg2_Y9m-lLUQoERKbSa52BtC7epbLO1WGJ3l70fK_aVyn$">has criminalized relations with Israel since Netanyahu’s election.
The mishigas emanating from Jerusalem)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy/1673241108-u-s-secretary-of-state-blinken-to-visit-israel-in-the-end-of-january__;!!LsXw!UFDVYbSKVje_WHGNtqHl8VO7InmdKePWhGp0Cfbe-hgGg2_Y9m-lLUQoERKbSa52BtC7epbLO1WGJ3l70SukauPi$">mishigas emanating from Jerusalem appears to be getting on the nerves of the Biden administration. Already, the president has warned the prime minister against policies “that contradict our mutual interests and values)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://twitter.com/BarakRavid/status/1608527752419807232__;!!LsXw!UFDVYbSKVje_WHGNtqHl8VO7InmdKePWhGp0Cfbe-hgGg2_Y9m-lLUQoERKbSa52BtC7epbLO1WGJ3l70WLjuO1a$">that contradict our mutual interests and values.” Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is planning to visit Netanyahu later this month.
To be sure, internal Israeli pushback and pressures are rising, too. Netanyahu & Co.’s attack on the independence of the country’s judiciary, coupled with their embrace of a wholesale exemption from military service for the country’s burgeoning ultra-Orthodox Jewish population, are decidedly unpopular)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.idi.org.il/articles/47050__;!!LsXw!UFDVYbSKVje_WHGNtqHl8VO7InmdKePWhGp0Cfbe-hgGg2_Y9m-lLUQoERKbSa52BtC7epbLO1WGJ3l70c2YORNl$">are decidedly unpopular.
Three in five Israelis awarded Netanyahu poor grades for his handling of coalition negotiations. Little more than half believed the new government would worsen Israel’s international standing. People have taken to the streets.
This past Saturday night, thousands protested against the government in Tel Aviv, the country’s commercial center, earning Ben-Gvir’s ire in the process. Placards comparing Israel to late Weimar Germany and the current justice minister to Hitler made their debuts)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/netanyahu-says-gantzs-comments-about-civil-war-constitute-sedition/__;!!LsXw!UFDVYbSKVje_WHGNtqHl8VO7InmdKePWhGp0Cfbe-hgGg2_Y9m-lLUQoERKbSa52BtC7epbLO1WGJ3l70QZYYGka$">made their debuts.
A day later, Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard Law School professor emeritus (a steadfast defender of the state of Israel), let the world know that he backed the demonstrations)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-726951__;!!LsXw!UFDVYbSKVje_WHGNtqHl8VO7InmdKePWhGp0Cfbe-hgGg2_Y9m-lLUQoERKbSa52BtC7epbLO1WGJ3l70TVZJzyF$">let the world know that he backed the demonstrations. “There’s a direct conflict between pure democracy… and the rights of minorities and civil rights,” he said.
On Monday, Israel’s establishment delivered a one-two punch of its own against Netanyahu and his friends. “If you continue on the path you are following, you will be responsible for civil war in Israeli society,” Benny Gantz, a retired general who had served as defense minister and deputy prime minister, thundered. “This is the time to go out en masse and to demonstrate, the time to make the country tremble)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/gantz-says-judicial-reform-plan-will-lead-to-civil-war-in-israel/__;!!LsXw!UFDVYbSKVje_WHGNtqHl8VO7InmdKePWhGp0Cfbe-hgGg2_Y9m-lLUQoERKbSa52BtC7epbLO1WGJ3l70WP3zPxX$">This is the time to go out en masse and to demonstrate, the time to make the country tremble.”
Ehud Barak, a former prime minister and retired general, was similarly unsparing in his criticism. He castigated Netanyahu in a tweet for capitulating to Ben Gvir, whom he characterized as a “blackmailer.” Barak had previously opined that Netanyahu’s government had shown “signs of fascism” and suggested that a mass “non-violent revolt” may be needed.
To be sure, Netanyahu is not amused. “Someone who does not condemn the comparison of the justice minister to a Nazi and of the government of Israel to the Third Reich—he is the one who is planting the seeds of disaster,” he ripped Gantz. For good measure, Netanyahu also accused his one-time deputy of fomenting “sedition from within the Knesset.”
Not to be outdone, Tzvika Fogel, chairman of the Knesset’s police committee and an ally of Ben Gvir, has since called for the arrest of Gantz and Yair Lapid, a former prime minister and Netanyahu’s immediate predecessor, on treason charges.
In that same vein, Eli Dallal, a Knesset member from Netanyahu’s own Likud Party lamented that Israel was “too democratic.” Apparently, dissent is for the privileged, not the many. On cue, the bond-rating agencies have weighed in. Maxim Rybnikov, director of sovereign ratings at Standard & Poor’s, warned that the Netanyahu government’s plans to “weaken the state’s institutions” might jeopardize Israel’s credit rating. His words will likely garner attention.
Eli Cohen, Israel’s foreign minister, is an S&P alumnus. As for Netanyahu, an MIT graduate, he launched his career at Boston Consulting Group. They both understand the force of markets.
Yet for Netanyahu, winning a get-out-of-jail card appears paramount. The drama will continue to unfold with Washington bewildered, the world watching, and Israel in the middle.
