New Delhi: A poised and confident Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly last month, calling out the sceptics regarding his plan for broader Arab-Israeli peace and normalisation of ties, irrespective of a resolution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
In his signature style, Netanyahu held up a map showing Israel in 1948, surrounded by enemies, and compared it to a new Middle East 75 years later, attributing this transformation to the success of the Abraham Accords. He proclaimed to the world that the Abraham Accords heralded the “dawn of a new age of peace.” However, only 15 days after his declaration, Israel is at war. This is why Benjamin Netanyahu is ThePrint’s Newsmaker of the Week.
A triumphant Netanyahu, returning to the global stage after his first meeting with US President Joe Biden, depicted the territory of Israel on the map as encompassing both Gaza and the West Bank. His uncanny ability to project a statesman-like image while letting his actions speak otherwise has allowed Netanyahu to hold power in Israel for nearly three decades.
Netanyahu now confronts his most difficult challenge yet: Hamas, the militant group that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, launched an unprecedented aerial and ground attack on Israel in the early hours of 7 October, leaving at least 1,200 Israelis dead and over 3,000 injured. An attack of this magnitude hasn’t been seen in Tel Aviv since the Yom Kippur War of 1973.
Nicknamed ‘The Magician’, ‘The Survivor’, and even ‘Mr Security’, ‘Bibi’ as he is affectionately known, holds the record as the longest-serving Prime Minister of Israel, serving from 1996 to 1999 and then from 2009 to 2021, before his current stint at the helm of Tel Aviv since December 2022.
In November 2019, Netanyahu was indicted on corruption charges by the attorney general, accused of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. Commentators around the world deemed this a ‘damning blow’ to the Israeli PM. Nevertheless, Netanyahu remained focused on his political goals, attempting to form a government after two back-to-back elections in April 2019 and September 2019 failed to yield a viable coalition in the Israeli Knesset.
A third election in April 2020 brought resolution to the political crisis that had enveloped Israel, as Netanyahu managed to corral Benny Gantz, the former Chief of the General Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and leader of the second-largest party in the Knesset, to form a national unity government. Netanyahu served as Prime Minister for 18 months before handing power to Gantz. However, this government collapsed a few months later, and in the ensuing elections, Netanyahu returned as the Leader of Opposition.
However, in December 2022, Netanyahu once again assumed the role of Prime Minister, showcasing his ability to retain power despite the charges against him. His self-assuredness in regaining power remained unshaken until the current conflict in Gaza.
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A reckoning awaits
A majority of Israelis blame Netanyahu’s government for the mass infiltration of Hamas militants into Israel and the resulting loss of 1,200 lives and injury to over 3,000, as revealed in a poll conducted by the Dialog Center and published by the Jerusalem Post on Thursday. An astounding 86 percent of respondents, or four-out-five, said that this unprecedented attack is a result of government failure, while a staggering 94 percent hold the government at least partially responsible for the attacks.
As previously reported by ThePrint, public anger has been directed at Netanyahu and the Likud party, with videos circulating on social media depicting Israelis berating ministers, accusing them of corruption, populism, and neglecting public interest. Several Israeli political commentators have also called for Netanyahu and his government to take responsibility for the largest loss of Jewish lives since the Holocaust.
Ravit Hecht, an Israeli journalist, wrote in Haaretz, “The political debacle is another incredible failure that can now be added to Benjamin Netanyahu’s record.”
“For many years, Israel has been governed by a populist strongman, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is a public-relations genius but an incompetent prime minister,” writes Yuval Noah Hariri, author and history professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in an op-ed in The Washington Post.
Speaking to ThePrint, Muddassir Quamar, an associate professor at the Centre for West Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, said that it would be difficult for Netanyahu to survive the current situation.
“Golda Meir, a signatory of the Israeli Declaration of Independence, was the Prime Minister of Israel during the Yom Kippur War. While her tenure continued until the end of the war, and her party won the 1973 legislative elections in Israel, her political career was finished,” Quamar pointed out. Netanyahu’s reckoning will come after the war, he explained.
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Israel’s culture of accountability
Arjun Hardas, the India representative for the American Jewish Committee, emphasised Tel Aviv’s culture of transparency and accountability in an interview with ThePrint. “Israel is very honest about their inquiries, normally headed by a Supreme Court judge…they have a tradition of it,” Hardas said.
Quamar concurred with this view. “Once the political process sets in, it will put Netanyahu in a tight spot. There is a failure of government and he will be held accountable eventually.”
Meir herself faced the Agranat Commission, which was set up to investigate the Yom Kippur War. She resigned nine days after the interim report was published. Menachem Begin, the architect of the Camp David Accords and founder of Netanyahu’s party, Likud, resigned a year after Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
Quamar added that while Netanyahu’s survival skills are second to none, they are now pitted against the weight of Israeli culture and the tradition of accountability. The question now remains: will the Magician find a way to stay in power after the war with Hamas, conjuring one last trick to convince others to let him remain, or will the consequences of his years of doing whatever it takes to survive finally catch up with him?
Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)