Once again, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown that he is a survivor. Last, but not least, this is due to the weakness of his (former) opponents: Benny Gantz moved from most serious contender in years to ally of the presumably corrupt Netanyahu.
At least some critical observers in Israel don’t get fooled. The former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, Jeff Barak, writes in his former paper under the title The farce and failure of Netanyahu’s latest antics: “ALL THE prime minister’s real energies are focused on staying out of prison. Everything else, including the mooted annexation of parts of the West Bank and leading Israel on the path of post-pandemic economic recovery, is secondary.”
In addition, Jeff Barak notes in The Jerusalem Post that “… the appointment of Amir Ohana, Netanyahu’s favorite bulldog, as Erdan’s replacement, is presumably to ensure no further charges are brought against the premier. With Ohana in charge of choosing the new Israel Police chief, it doesn’t take a great leap of imagination to assume that any criminal investigation into the shares Netanyahu received from his American cousin will silently peter out.”
On May 17, 2020 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the largest cabinet in Israeli history: 35 ministers, including him as PM, as well as 16 deputy ministers. The 120-seat Knesset had voted 73 vs. 46 in favor of the new government. Totaling 73 lawmakers, the coalition includes 35 parliamentarians from Netanyahu’s Likud party, 16 from Gantz’s Blue and White party, 9 from Shas, 7 from the United Torah Judaism party, 2 from the Labor party, 2 from the Derech Eretz party, 1 from the Jewish Home party and 1 from the Gesher party.
The same day, the editor of The Times of Israel, David Horovitz, wrote a critical article under a headline which sums up his thoughts: “Exploiting, not serving, the people: Israel’s shamefully inflated new government. Ben-Gurion managed with 12 ministers in Israel’s first coalition. Now we are to have 35, some overseeing patently absurd, illogical portfolios, at a time of economic meltdown.”
So why do so many Israelis still put their faith in Netanyahu? He has helped modernize the country, for instance by pushing science and attracting foreign investements, notably from the USA. He has helped establish a vibrant start-up culture, a state-of-the-art tech, software and pharmaceutical sector. Israel has become an imporant exporter of goods and services. Israel is now a rich country with a nominal GDP per capita of almost 43,000 per year in 2019; Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) over $39,000 in 2019.
Futhermore, Netanyahu has kept the country save from terrorism, partly through extreme measures such as building a wall, accepted by a majority of Israeli. In the current Covid19 pandemic, he has ordered travel restrictions as early as in February 2020. Later, infected Israeli were quarantined, social distancing measures imposed and large parts of the economy closed in a lockdown. In a poll published on May 10, 74% of Israelis approved of Netanyahu’s health response to the pandemic, but only 53% approved the PM’s economic handling of the crisis, with 43% disapproving.
This leads us to the downsides of Netanyahu’s long reign as PM. The lockdown of Israel will hurt the economy. Extreme measures have extreme consequences. Israel is an important exporter of goods and services, tourism is important and, in the interconnected world, Israel depends on what happens in the USA, EU and in Asia.
The pandemic and its consquences put aside, Netanyahu has moved Israel further and further to the right. If the world was flat, the PM would have fallen down on the right side a long time ago. The July 19, 2018 Basic Law officially defined Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People, leaving out Arabs and other minorities which account for over 20% of the population, not counting the many secular Jews who do not want Israel to become a religious state. Futhermore, Netanyahu has pushed new settlements. His latest plan includes the annexation of parts of the West Bank. His “peace plan” means Israel dictates the outcome which Palestinians just have to accept. Netanyahu and his followers forget that Israel’s neighbors will remain the same for generations to come. They may not forget what has happened during Netanyahu’s years in office. Last, but not least, Netanyahu has been accused of favors, fraud, breach of trust, bribery and corruption. Therefore, the PM has been ready to do whatever it takes — not to end up in a prison cell.
Given that the evidence is conclusive, will Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit end up doing his job and send Netanyahu to jail? Will Netanyahu honor the deal made with Gantz and, in 18 months, hand over the premiership of the largest Israeli cabinet in history to the Blue and White leader?
All this happens during a pandemic which could lead to a global depression with disastrous social and political consequences, which may mark the begin of the Asian century.
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The photo on this page shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photograph: US State Department. This photo is in the public domain.
Article added on May 18, 2020 at 11:08 Swiss time.
