After he lost the election in 2021, Benjamin Netanyahu wrote in the last chapter of his book “Bibi: My Story” that his time in opposition was just a “hiatus” and that he still had important work to do.
The book, which was released right before the fifth Israeli election in four years and was prominently displayed outside polling places on election day, is infused with Netanyahu’s certainty that he would soon recover the top job.
If early results hold, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, who has ruled the country’s politics for more than a decade, is returning and is expected to create one of the most right-wing cabinets in its history.
“I haven’t yet lost my voice and I have your voice!” he told a cheering crowd of supporters in the early hours of Wednesday morning, his tie perfectly matching the party’s shade of blue.
“Today, we won a sweeping vote of confidence,” he continued, as the crowd, waving blue and white Israeli flags and Likud banners, interrupted with chants of “Bibi, King of Israel!”
The Abraham Accords with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, which paved the door for potential normalisation of ties with other Arab nations, were a major accomplishment of Netanyahu’s first term. The 73-year-old has promised to expand on this success.
But his affiliation with the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party and its co-leader Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was found guilty in 2007 of inciting racial hatred against Arabs and who, until recently, supported the expulsion of Palestinians from Israel, has drawn the greatest attention.
The two factors highlight the difficulties that Netanyahu will have when he starts making plans to create a cabinet. He will be under pressure to provide prestigious positions to Ben-Gvir and his friends while allaying worries from allies like the United States.
Netanyahu appears destined to rely on support from Religious Zionism and two smaller religious parties while he faces trial for corruption, bribery, and other accusations, all of which he denies.
Critics claim that with support from the far-right, Netanyahu may pursue dramatic judicial reforms that might perhaps spare him from conviction and incarceration. Those parties have been more ready to overlook Netanyahu’s legal issues.
In exchange, Netanyahu could have to give up ministries that directly influence Israel’s economic and security policy.
Netanyahu, who has been flanked on the right in past governments, has earned the moniker “magician” from supporters due to his superb English oratory and track record of assembling apparently unattainable coalitions.
Despite fighting three wars against the Gaza-based Palestinians, he was nevertheless able to improve relations with Gulf Arab countries. He was a strong proponent of the free market who enabled rapid vaccination rollouts during the COVID-19 epidemic and supervised excellent economic progress.
In contrast to the previous administration, he was also more willing to publicly criticise the United States regarding the Iranian nuclear programme. He addressed Congress despite then-President Barack Obama’s objections and drew a red line on a cartoon bomb in a speech to the United Nations to highlight Tehran’s technological advancement.
Netanyahu, a former army general whose older brother Yoni was killed while spearheading the 1976 rescue of kidnapped passengers in Entebbe, Uganda, has not shown much excitement for the long-held goal of establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Under his leadership, U.S.-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian negotiations came to a standstill in 2014. Resumption becomes less and less likely.
The disagreements between Netanyahu and Obama infuriated many liberal-leaning American Jews. Netanyahu will have to contend with Joe Biden, a different Democratic president, as well as work to ensure that Republican former President Donald Trump is re-elected while serving as prime minister once more.
However, the previously unbreakable relationship between Netanyahu and Trump now shows signs of fraying. The former president said that Netanyahu’s congratulations to Biden on winning the White House hurt him in a profanity-filled media interview last year.
In contrast, Netanyahu’s biography characterises Trump as “fixated” on mediating Israeli-Palestinian peace, a goal that, while unachieved, served as one of the driving forces behind the prime minister’s decision to drop plans to annex portions of the occupied West Bank.
Now that Netanyahu may be forced by religious Zionism to review the strategy, all prospects for a Palestinian state may be dashed.
He expressed confidence that he would be able to put together a responsible coalition that would avoid “unnecessary expeditions” and “extend the circle of peace” on Wednesday, apparently in an effort to calm anxieties overseas.
All of his political savvy will be put to the test as he tries to square that circle with his backers’ vehement rhetoric. (REUTERS)
