The whole story of Israeli politics today is Binyamin Netanyahu.
I won’t bore you with countless scenarios, most of which are about as likely as the one in which I become Prime Minister. Everything is contained in six numbers:
Number of Knesset seats needed to form a government: 61.
Number committed to join a coalition with Netanyahu: 52 (Likud, Shas, UTJ, Religious Zionism).
Number opposed to Netanyahu: 57 (seven parties).
Uncommitted: 7 (Naftali Bennett’s Yamina party).
Committed to supporting Netanyahu from outside the coalition: 4 (Ra’am party of Mansour Abbas*).
Number considered “right-wing”: 72 (Likud, Shas, Yamina, UTJ, Religious Zionism, Tikvah Hadasha).
What this tells us is that if it were not for the contentiousness of Binyamin Netanyahu, there would be a natural right-wing government. It’s what the majority of Israelis want. Bibi’s Likud party received almost twice as many seats (30) as his nearest competitor, Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party (17). The Center, Left, and Arab parties (except Ra’am) amount to only 44. The right-wing-but-not-Bibi group has 20.
The ideological differences between this last group and Netanyahu are small to nonexistent. It’s personal to a great extent: Bennett, Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu) and Gideon Sa’ar (Tikvah Hadasha) were all formerly members of the Likud who were squeezed out by Bibi, who does not tolerate even theoretical competition for leadership of the party. Lieberman and Bennett had cabinet positions in several previous coalitions in which they were prevented from exercising their supposed authority by a micro-managing Bibi.
Netanyahu is presently on trial on several charges of corruption, and if he is convicted he will have to step down as Prime Minister. A great deal of what has happened in Israeli politics in the past two years revolves around his opponents’ attempts to bring him down by means of these charges, and his struggle to stay in power – and out of jail. The charges are a mixed bag: the ones considered most serious by the prosecutors are called by some “invented crimes” that are merely politics as usual. On the other hand, it seems clear that he (and his wife – who is a big part of the problem) took expensive gifts from foreigners who had business with the government.
Bibi is so hated by the Left that there have been demonstrations with thousands of participants going on outside his homes and in other locations every Saturday night for at least a year. They accuse him of “destroying democracy and the rule of law” for his attempts to rein in the judiciary, including the Supreme Court and the state prosecutor’s office. But while, obviously, he is pursuing his personal interest, it is still true that the left-leaning legal establishment has arrogated to itself almost unlimited power and has destroyed the balance of powers between the legislature, the government, and the judiciary that is essential for a truly just regime.
There is no question that Bibi jealously hoards his power, and does not delegate it in areas that he considers important. He breaks promises repeatedly, both to his constituents and to other politicians. He has on occasion been responsible for ugly campaigns of innuendo against his opponents, such as a rumor that Naftali Bennett’s wife worked as a chef at a non-kosher restaurant (Bennett is an observant Jew as are many of his supporters), and that Benny Gantz (Blue and White) had an affair with another government minister.
And yet…
And yet, Bibi has been a great Prime Minister, arguably Israel’s greatest. His reign, the longest in the history of the state, has been remarkably peaceful. Some say he has only “kicked the can down the road,” but others argue that he has managed the covert war against Iran and its proxies very effectively, preventing Iran from going nuclear and interdicting the supply of improved weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria. He has been criticized (unfairly, I think) for the poor relationship with former US President Obama (I blame Obama for this) but he presented Israel’s case to the US Congress forcefully, and galvanized opposition to the Iran deal, even if its opponents were ultimately outmaneuvered. On his watch the US finally moved its Embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Israel’s sovereignty in the Golan Heights, and exited the Iran deal. Bibi achieved improved relations with numerous countries, including the ground-breaking Abraham Accords with several Arab nations that were formerly counted among our enemies.
He has been criticized for the handling of the airport during the pandemic, as well as being too easy on the Haredim, who kept schools and yeshivot open and held massive weddings and funerals against government rules. But he did the one thing that was most important with respect to the Coronavirus: he brought us the vaccines that made Israel one of the most successful countries in the world in dealing with it. Yes, it is annoying that he constantly brags about it, and how it was a personal accomplishment, as if he himself vaccinated millions of Israelis. But as a matter of fact, it was – he truly did “obsessively” call the CEOs of the vaccine manufacturers. He did take the difficult decision to pay a premium price for the vaccine and provide data to the manufacturers. He did this. He had help of course, from the HMOs and the Health Ministry that set up the distribution system, but he is right in taking credit for it. Thanks to Bibi, today we are reopening our economy and returning to ordinary life, while Europeans are still struggling with lockdowns and shortages of vaccine.
I did not vote for him. Although his accomplishments are many, I am convinced that it’s time for new leadership. I voted for Bennett, whom I believe is smart enough and creative enough, as well as ideologically committed to strengthening Israel, including the Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan valley, areas that are both the spiritual heartland of the nation as well as essential for its defense. And he has the moral qualifications, too. Is Bennett tough enough? Time will tell, although I think so.
But Bennett, whose party has a total of seven seats, is probably not going to be Prime Minister this time. I will go out on a limb and predict that Bibi will manage to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat once again. Maybe Bennett and Sa’ar will join his coalition, or he will persuade the necessary two members of the Knesset from other parties to jump to his side, or he will convince the other members of his coalition to accept the support of the Ra’am party – an Arab Islamist party led by Mansour Abbas, who for pragmatic reasons will support Netanyahu and Likud.
If this happens, it will prove once again that in addition to being one of Israel’s greatest Prime Ministers, he is also an incredibly adroit politician. If he is also smart enough to understand that now is the time to step back and start thinking about retirement, that would also be good.
_____________________
* An Israeli Arab politician, not to be confused with the head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.
@ Edgar G.:
Bennet is 49. Shaked is 44. Smotrich is 41. The babies in the bunch.
@ Edgar G.:
Remember Logan’s Run? (1976). About a post-apocolyptic distopyia in which people are only allowed to live to 30? Wikipedia has the plot, if not. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan%27s_Run_(film)
@ Sebastien Zorn:
I think Bennett will be hitting 50 in another couple of years max. Shaked, although she doesn’t look it (iin photographs) in in her mid 40s. Benny Begin must be at least 80 or more.
Acording to Reader you yourself are already to old to qualify for a full term. Rubinstein, that brilliant man played concerts well into his 80s I think, althugh he bgan hitting a bunch of keys that shouldn’t have been right there. The audience didn’t mind, they loved him.. And Victor Borge…
And Menuhin was playing concerts brilliantly in his late 70s and maybe into his 80s. I once saw him in a duet, competition with Stephane Grapelli a wonderful, jazz player, and they would each play a part and the other would then emulate it. Grapelli’s playing was much more jazzy with a real syncopation that Yehudi noticeably lacked. It was a great show.
I think I mentioned that Jackie Mason , about 90 is still doing series of concerts. He and Myron Cohen are my two favourite comedians. And of course, that almost unknown Manchester comedian Julian Rose whom I loved… His “Levinsky at the Vedding” was/IS hilarious. I think he wrote it all himself…..although in my opinion he rattled it off a bit too quickly, and it needed a bit mor e emphasis in the rright places. But he was a Music Hall product, and speed was essential to a certain extent, as there was a line up of acts after him.
It seems the only major contenders under 50 are Bennett, Shaked, and Smotrich.
Reader Said:
As for Golda having to be talked into it, that was considered the ideal in America, if not necessarily the practice, from George Washington to Andew Jackson, that the president should be a retired distinguished statesman who had to be dragged into office out of a sense of duty. But, it was Andrew Jackson who pioneered campaigning on the stump.
As for Rabin and Peres, well, I deliberately omitted them, as well as Ohlmert, who was 61, and Ehud Barak, who was 57, as is Lapid, and Ganz, who is 61, because I figured that would undermine my argument. Ha Ha. Could we just let them off the hook by saying they suffer/ed from dementia. Ha Ha.
@ Reader:
Your babble is definitely not the lovely brook of the song. Thank Heavens that your scattered thoughts are just that, of no importance and with no influence on anyone, except your laughing readers. In your own way, your way-out beliefs, (if you really DO believe what you scatter like bird-shot) are very like the Trump Dementia Syndrome in it’s regular intensity, regardless of the facts -which contradict them.
Forgot to mention when Ben Gurion was recalled to give strength to Rabib, he gave him a tongue lashing which put him in a coma in bed (booze) for nearly 2 days. that was in 1967. He waa then 81
@ Reader:
Ben Gurion retired at 79, and was recalled at 83.
I really should have mentoned PROMINENTLY, Netanyahu’s late father BenZion Ntanyahu, who lived to be 102. He wrote many major works AFTER his middle 80s. He was called to the US to become Jabotinsky’s personal secretary, and was a most important figure in extreme Zionism, all his life. Founder of “Betar”. The PM comes from a long-lived, cognitively very active,strongly Zionist family background, and for you to concoct you fairy tales, as to what he does (about which you have NO coherent-ot otherwise- clue) is purely nonsensical.
Oh yes, and Jackie Mason is still going strong, on tour giving concerts, the last I heard, although he must be nearly 90 by now.
Emanuel Velikovsky- about whom I have a soft spot- also was a prolific ublished writer and theorist well into his 80s. And ALWAYS kept his great intelligence until he died., like Ben Zion Netanyahu, Beetrand Russell, and so many others.
So your footling age quotes if on paper, are best used when you need to go to the washroom.
You shoul read about the P.M.s father on Wiki enormously interesting, and HIS father
(the PMs zaida) before him, travelled extensively to raise ZIONIST awareness.
The idea that the PM wants to “ahng on” until he can get the Nobel is as asnine as most of your other rubbish. How many dozens of times have we seen Nobels awarded many years after achievements….?? A Multitude of times in fact more the norm than otherwise. At least in those sane days of yore..
@ Sebastien Zorn:
Golda didn’t want to do it, she had to be talked into it, she wanted to retire (the only normal one there, I guess) – and her conduct before the Yom Kippur War was kind of questionable but not more so than others’.
Begin signed Camp David Accords at 66 (the Sinai withdrawal) – got a Nobel.
Rabin and Peres signed Oslo Accords when in their 70s, both got a Nobel together with Arafat.
I bet Netanyahu wants to stay on desperately to get a Nobel this summer for the Two State Final Solution – who is going to jail a Nobel Prize laureate?
Ben Gurion – can’t say anything (simply don’t know) but still, he wasn’t in his 70s then and he did retire on his own.
Yes, Trump was too old at 70 (he will probably run again at 74), and Biden is too old at 78, and Pelosi is too old at 80, etc., etc.
Anyway, your list doesn’t prove anything other than most politicians want to die in the office and fail to leave a younger, capable slate of politicians to replace them.
Did the Deep State operatives who dreamed these up laugh among themselves at their comedic brilliance the way Alan Alda as President does at the accusations against Canada and the Canadian PM in this trailer for the under-rated insightful and brilliant satire (featuring an all Second City/SNL cast) “Canadian Bacon?”(1995)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jf8Bt4gD9Y
The sheer silliness of some of the many allegations boggles the mind. As with Trump, his doppleganger in this as in some other respects, the Deep State is clearly throwing anything they can think of against the wall to see what sticks. Remember the accusation that he was buying to much ice cream? (Reminded me of the classic Eddie Cantor song, “we want ice cream” from his hilarious 1934 satire, “Kid Millions,” with a Middle East plot and his plan to use his new fortune to give all the kids free ice cream. )
Or, the Netanyahus being accused of ORDERING TAKEOUT when there was a chef on premises. You know, this made me wonder about that chef. I know he can’t pick his cabinet. Does he get to pick his chef? Remember when the Japanese ambassador left in a huff and there was an international incident when he put a dessert in a replica of a shoe on the table? I’ll bet you anything, it was intended as a pun, that nobody got, by the way. French Choux pastries are all the rage in Japan and there are Japanese Choux pastry shops everywhere. So much a staple that now they are Japanese pastries. There used to be one in Manhattan on First Avenue.
Same guy? Hmmm. Aside from not wanting to eat the same food all the time, maybe I can see why takeout would have been a temptation, albeit a forbidden, sinful temptation.
THE PM ORDERED TAKEOUT! And now, let the heavens fall, as they may.
The sheer silliness of some of the many allegations boggles the mind. As with Trump, his doppleganger in this as in some other respects, the Deep State is clearly throwing anything they can think of against the wall to see what sticks. Remember the accusation that he was buying to much ice cream? (Reminded me of the classic Eddie Cantor song, “we want ice cream” from his hilarious 1934 satire, “Kid Millions,” with a Middle East plot and his plan to use his new fortune to give all the kids free ice cream. )
Or, the Netanyahus being accused of ORDERING TAKEOUT when there was a chef on premises. You know, this made me wonder about that chef. I know he can’t pick his cabinet. Does he get to pick his chef? Remember when the Japanese ambassador left in a huff and there was an international incident when he put a dessert in a replica of a shoe on the table? I’ll bet you anything, it was intended as a pun, that nobody got, by the way. French Choux pastries are all the rage in Japan and there are Japanes Choux pastry shops everywhere. So much a staple that now they are Japanese pastries. There used to be one in Manhattan on First Avenue.
Same guy? Hmmm. Aside from not wanting to eat the same food all the time, maybe I can see why takeout would have been a temptation, albeit a forbidden, sinful temptation.
THE PRESIDENT ORDERED TAKEOUT! And now, let the heavens fall, as they may.
@ Reader:
Were they too old? Begin was elected PM at 64, Golda Meir took office in 1969 at 71. Yitzhak Shamir served two terms, 1983–84 and 1986–1992. In 1983, he was 68. Levi Eshkol was 68 when he took office as PM in 1963.
@ Reader:
Was Ben Gurion, who turned 62 in 1948, too old to lead Israel? He retired in 1963. Did he do a bad job? Should he have stayed in bed?
@ Reader:
At age 70, Trump was the oldest person to take office as President, before Biden. Do you think he was too old? Would you rule out supporting him in 2024?
@ Reader:
At age 70, Trump was the oldest person to take office as President, before Biden. Do you think he was too old?
@ peloni1986:
I could have not said it better. One think I would like to add: Nethaniahu strong hand and fiece determination to lead this nation to the highest standard ever, despite the perseverent bitting of his multitude of opponents, proved beyond doubt of his correct vision and judgement. There is no other competitor worth Nethaniahu’s capacity.
@ Edgar G.:
No,
I am talking about the fact that every human faculty deteriorates or at least quits developing with age whether you want it or not and whether you realize it or not.
The so-called “experience” turns into rigid thinking and ideas which leads to wrong decisions.
Netanyahu already did a lot of damage by his constant compromising and ruining the Zionist and Jewish character of the state.
In my opinion, he is ready, willing, and able to create a “Palestinian” state together with his Arab supporters this summer at the planned conference if he remains in power.
His removal is not a guarantee of this not happening but it would help a lot.
Has it occurred to you that the results of the elections could have been fixed to make sure Ra’am gets in?.
Israel cannot copy American or European style “democracy” and policies and continue to exist.
@ Edgar G.:
Fine.
It is $50,000 net.
$50,000 : 12 = $4,167
$ 4,167 – $3,200 = $967
That is what is left for him to live on (does he pay rent and utilities?).
I don’t think he and Sara live in a shack, and they do need food to eat and clothes to wear.
Of course, you’ll argue that they are very, very frugal.
@ inna1:
Apparently, this has started affecting aliyah.
People are starting to have second thoughts about moving to a “police state”.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/299518
The broadcaster, of course, “refutes” this argument.
@ Reader:
YOu are talking about 96-100 years old. The man is in hi prime, and this not only from me, but from several other writers, including an Arutz op-ed today. You should have been around the tell D’Israeli that, He’d have loved listening to you, they didn’t get much entertainment in those days.
Adenaur, Bertrand Russell, G Bernard Shaw, Margaret Thatcher, Winxton Churchill, and the majority of world leaders Today, in these modern times 71 is late middle age.
How old do you think Ted is? and he’s as sharp as a new pin……….Some of the best posts on Israpundit have been from members who acknowledged that they were in their 80s. There were several a few years ago. And there are more than several today I’m sure.
I don’t know how old you are. Michael S. says he’s 79. Sebastien, one of out best posters is over 60. Adam Dalgleish, one of our best posters, in fact he shou/ld be writing articles here, I belive is in his mid 70s.
Victor Rosenthal, the writer of this and many other very good articles is in his mid to late 70s.
@ Reader:
No I didn’t say he pays the $3200 from his $50,000, but that the $50,000 is his take home pay. THis information is publi knowledge.I’m sure you can find it on the internet easily.
He sweats and slaves for Israel, has done all his life and now is not appreciated at all. If he were not zionist he wouldn’t be sacrificing his whole life to Israel like he has done.
You don’t understand a bit, that’s all.
@ Reader:
Ra’am Shma’am. Ecerything you say except your second last sentence, is WRONG, If it all were to be treversed, than you wouldbe approahing correct info.
But there’s no discussing with you. You must always have the (wrong)last word. You go down with the ship; still playing the ukulele.
@ Reader:
No I didn’t say he pays the $3200 from his $50,000, but that the $50,000 is his take home pay. THis information is publi knowledge.I’m sure you can find it on the internet easily.
He sweats and slaves for Israel, has done all his life and now is not appreciated at all. If he were not zionist he wouldn’t be sacrificing his whole life to Israel like he has done.
You don’t understand a bit, that’s all.
@ Edgar G.:
@ peloni1986:
Exactly what I was trying to point out:
You are describing a man who is supremely skilled at ensuring his own survival as a politician.
So? It is wonderful and fascinating to watch (just as any high level sports match would be) but what does it do for the country?
My problem with him (aside from his vaccine promotion) is that he pretends to be a rightist while his policies are leftist.
He freezes the Jewish settlement while promoting (or ignoring) the Arab settlement, he will make a pact with anyone to stay in power.
I think his playing footsie with Ra’am is unforgivable, personally.
I am convinced that if he stays in power, there will be a “Palestinian” state soon in Judea and Samaria.
The problem with Israeli politicians is that they create their parties based on personal convictions when they should unite based on the principles of Zionism (what was the Jewish state created for, otherwise?).
Then everything will be clear.
Otherwise they just keep bickering and leading the country into danger.
@ Edgar G.:
If Netanyahu pays out $3,200/mo out of the $50,000/yr salary (before taxes), he has nothing left to live on.
So, maybe he is not as poor as you’d like to think.
@ Edgar G.:
The mind becomes stiff after 60-some, like it or not.
This is dangerous in politics.
It is simply dangerous for any country when a bunch of oldsters keep sitting there ’til they die pushing the same policies which became outdated decades ago and micromanaging everything, and promoting their own “personality cults”.
I am not talking about his family’s political views, I am talking about the fact that the former stewardess Sara allegedly unduly affects her “political genius” husband’s decisions.
@ Edgar G.:
No. I am talking about ANY AND ALL Israeli college professor who MUST retire at the age of 69 (It could even be 67, I am writing from memory).
A few things about Netanyahu that astonishes me. His take home pay amounts to less than $50,000 a year, He is a comparatively poor man with his “fortune” assessed as between $100,00 and 1 mill. Some say 10 mill.
He pays $3200 a monrh as hi share of the cost of the armoured car he uses. This is a request of the Shin Bet, not Netanyahu himself.
Boy oh Boy, this guy is “Mr. Corruption Himself…Mr BIG”…..
Oh yes His family has been fervent Zionists for generations. ….and the guy in only 71 yeas old. Tis is just the age when most famous statesmen began “hitting their stride”.
@ peloni1986:
Vaccine or not, it has been internationally recognised that Israel is the poster boy for success against the COVID pandemic. It’s a fact however you have complaints aginst it. The rest of your post is first class and recognises the multi-major achievements of the PM. You show a few personal and illogical traits too but of little importance , so… a VERY GOOD POST is my personal assessment, and maybe of no importance to anyone, but I must say it.
@ Reader:
Are you talking about the College Professors who instil leftist and traitorous garbage into their students’ heads….They should be retired as soon as they show anti-Zionist leanings, behind barred cells.
I alway knew you had a thick head but you have good points too, but I cannot reserve judgement on this post of yours.. However, you are not displaying them here. You are WRONG. Netanyahu is at the height of his mental powers and far too vauable to his country and to Jews world wide.
He fights off his personal enemies and international enemies of Israel, as if he has 10 hands and 5 brains.You are a fool, not for the first time, and not for the hundred-and-
first time, but likely since you were aone track stubborn little child. All that has happened since, is that you’ve learned to read and put on some years.
Even knowing your dunderhededness, It’s hard to believe that you would give up a world wide respected statesman of unparallelled skill for the aspiring neophytes, who can not even find their behinds without written directions, even whilst any country in which they would be PMs descended to 3rd world status.. Their greed and jealousy show no bounds, and vie only with their incomprtence to make themselves into real leaders, possessed of the neccessary sagacity.
@ inna1:
@ Edgar G.:
I would like to state uncategorically I agree with most of what you both state here. It is true that Netanyahu has only delayed many of the resolutions to problems that could have been dealt with. But that delay could be the very undoing of any resolution to these problems. Up until the vaccine, this was my only real complaint of him and I did not feel, on balance, that it offset his many successes – both financial and political as you state, Edgar. But, as Inna1 notes, his complete endorsement and heavy handed proscribement of his vaccine mandates and lock-downs, which have cost the state a great deal – both in freedoms and finances – are, I find, a real shot across the bow. The vaccine endorsement alone was sickening to me. His state run mandates, which stifle basic freedoms actually chill me to the bone and renders future freedoms in threat of further state mandates and limitations. Netanyahu’s continued support for this policy goes against all that I am and, consequently, I have, for the first time since he has been in the Knesset, been very lukewarm to his candidacy. If it were not for the very real threat that looms from the US against the state of Israel, I would not have supported him in this election.
Also, these keystone cop alternative candidates that have chosen to run against him do so because, after nearly 20yrs of Netanyahu dominated politics, they smell blood in the water following the Lieberman debacle. The fact that Netanyahu did not betray, embezzle, or harm the state played no role in the wannabee’s political decisions. In truth he brought Israel to greater heights of international status, independent of the US, than the state had ever known. Also, under his wise financial stewardship, Israel has become a wealthy and financially significant player in the world of financial markets and investments. And as of late, and in large part, as a consequence of his international Machiavelli style, we now have a growing peace matrix called the Abraham Accords with our Arab neighbors. None of these facts had steadied the hand of these so called candidates who would deny the state of her greatest statesman to date. Their inability to overcome these childsplay tantrums to form a gov’t around the largest Right wing party leaves me no confidence in any of them being able to do what needs to be done.
And so there is Netanyahu to do the heavy lifting again, if he is able. But his role in the vaccine can never remove from my mind the fact that he is not the perfect candidate, very much not so.
@ peloni1986:
(2 of 2)
Regarding his age, I believe it is fair and necessary to judge a man upon his cognitive responses but not due to age, but rather inspite of it. I don’t believe that it is fair to end political life at 60, 65 or any given age(my own brother was a total spoon at age 15). Netanyahu, even under the strain of all the concocted political travails, legal threats and international arrangements, has never appeared addled or lost in thought. Again, if he ever had, I believe it would be the only commercial in town. In any case, again, a majority of the right have, in repeated elections, shown their support for this single politician in spite of his age.
The weakest part of your arguments against Netanyahu is the charge that he is not a skilled politician. I can with complete certainty state that no other Israeli politician would have had the ability, recognition and success, not to mention the temerity, in single-handedly opposing a US president and doing so on US soil and actually win significant support for his case from the US public and political establishment. Furthermore, I am certain the many PM wannabees could never have matched him in doing such a thing and we might need it to be done again now that Obama et. al. are back in town. I don’t know that Netanyahu could do this twice – much has changed in the US and Israel. I only know this:
1. He has the tenacity to keep himself in power time and again
2. His adversaries seem like waves breaking upon the rock of his political prowess
3. He continues to carry the nearest to majority support among the Right leaders while the others trade places as distant runners up.
These are not small things to weigh in his favor. And so I do support him. Furthermore, I would not support withdrawing the only candidate from the right who has a significant level of support election after election and an uncanny sense of survival and success – that would be pure folly and a large dog bone for the Left lunatics of the world. No reasonable man in Netanyahu’s position, nor any person concerned with Israel’s future, would withdraw his role in the gov’t under these circumstances. /2
@ Reader:
(1 of 2)
It is true that Netanyahu has inadvertently caused the fracturing of the right(and it continues to fracture further) into many unyielding factions due to personal rivalries between he and other former Likudniks. This state of the fractured Right has been going on to such a level and for such a time that we have been without a functioning gov’t for too long, in spite of the fact that the right has an overwhelming majority within the state. But the fault of this reality lies with the Israeli people, not Netanyahu. These former allies have made their intentions clear to the public – they would deny Netanyahu of his victory no matter the cost to the state and the people. I can only surmise the public enjoys this menagerie of gov’t, but this is not Netanyahu’s choice, it is the public’s. It is the Israeli public that have voted to split the right along the lines of Netanyahu vs the many PM wannabees(this one up in this election, another one up in the next election) rendering any right wing gov’t impossible and all right wing agendas moot.
His family involvement in politics is not offensive to me. I have never heard that he has committed the act of nepotism, and if he had, I think I would have. His family, like Trump, Obama, Bush, Reagan, Carter etc. have a right to express themselves, even if it helps or damages Netanyahu. I don’t find it as a detraction to him.
As far as keeping himself in power at the expense of the state, I don’t agree that this is the case. Staying in power is not only what he is good at, its what all politicians want to be good at. And yet, while he is keeping himself in office, his continued successes are our good fortune, so far. Netanyahu at the helm opposing the Left wing fanaticists of the world has had very stabilizing results for the country, region and the world. /1
All this talk about Netanyahu performing miracles for Israel is just fantasies.
As far as his being a skilled politician – this is not a soccer match where a player deserves admiration for how well he handles the ball.
All his skills seem to be devoted to keeping himself in power and out of jail no matter whether it is good or bad for the country, and his family seems to be way too involved in his politics for it to be good for the democracy.
And last but not least – he is simply too old.
In Israel the mandatory age of retirement for college professors is 69 years.
Shouldn’t there be an age limit for the politicians, no matter how “skilled” they might be?
Everyone knows that the intellectual and cognitive capacities, unfortunately, decline with age.
If elderly politicians still wish to contribute – let them stay on as unpaid consultants.
“…he did the one thing that was most important with respect to the Coronavirus: he brought us the vaccines that made Israel one of the most successful countries in the world in dealing with it”. Wow, vaccines”? These experimental solutions cannot be called vaccines by definition. Israel is not “one of the most successful countries in the world in dealing with” Covid. Examples: Sweden, South Dakota in US. They did not have a shutdown, mandatory masks and social distancing, and still their statistics is better. Many Israelis are suffering under Bibi’s tyrannical regulations at the time when many scientists are speaking out against these experimental and potentially dangerous shots. VAERS, an American CDC statistical system, shows how many deaths and immediate serious side effect these “vaccines” caused already (and this data of course is very limited), and there is no information about the potential harm on human immune system and DNA they can inflict. Right now, a second Nuremberg tribunal that is in preparation, with a class action lawsuit being set up under the aegis of thousands of lawyers worldwide behind the American-German lawyer Reiner Fuellmich, who is prosecuting those responsible for the Covid-19 scandal manipulated by the Davos Forum. Bibi cannot be praised for his handling of this “plandemic”.
@ peloni1986:
With all his “plusses” and his trivialities of “minuses”, I don’t know why you, and all others keep saying “It’s true Netanyah is not a perfect choice”.. He IS a perfect choice. He has proven over and over again that he has been able to keep Israel safe and energetically prospering to an enheard of height, both economically and politically. He has accomplished things that absolutely NOT ONE of his many enemies could ever achieve; not even a single one;, and of whom most or all, do NOT even understand.
And at little or no major cost. Perhaps delays or postponements, but none of Israel’s ultimate objectives has been lost.
They THINK they can/do, but this shows the vast gap between him and the “next best” for the job. It’s not a local petty political position, but a “World Stage in the Spotlight” , situation. Mandelblit and his handlers should all be in jail for lfe for theit own corruption and treason, in trying to bring down the only man in Israel, or even the whole Jewish world, at this tme, who can lead and keep Israel safe.
Having the personal hatred, and schemng, plotting and worse, going on through most of his tenures, and STILL emerging at the top, says everything. Do we all forget “Bottlegate” and “veranda furniture”..
Israel has always been like Jerusalem was just before the Walls fell to the Romans. Eating one another up alive for petty personal jealousies whilst the REAL enemy walked in with impunity, and great slaughter of our innocents.
If Israel does it again, as seems likely, there will be only a little 3rd world tinpot strip of 3rd World land left, much like it was before Begin, and Netanyahu. arrived.
To expect that an angel dould accomplish these miracles….????!!!
Cigars, champagne and bullying the press for better coverage… Mixed bag of charges indeed. And not a single gov’t in the world would withstand the lowering of the legal bar to the level needed to prosecute Netanyahu. It’s not a mixed bag, its an empty bag filled with the hopes and dreams of those who see Netanyahu as their main(perhaps only) obstacle in bringing Israel back into the fold of those olden days when Israel was forced to bend to international whims and terrorist demands.
I do agree with Rosenthal about Bennett – right down to the following statement:
But this question is not one of idle curiosity. Obama and his backers are in control of the US gov’t and they are not concerned with such inconsequential details as public opinion or past diplomatic protocols. The Radical Left own both the legislative and executive branches of gov’t and the courts seem to be signalling their subserviance to threats of being packed. If Bennett (or his fellow PM wannabees) were to be PM and fail the tough enough question, there would be no second chances. Israel needs a stalwart champion who has proven his ability to craft strength and alliances amid failing relations with her most historically reliable ally. It is true that Netanyahu is not a perfect choice, but the people who cry loudest against him do make him an easy choice. So I hope Rosenthal’s deduction that Netanyahu pulls another rabbit out of that well worn hat is true. We could do much worse than a continuation of “His reign, the longest in the history of the state, has been remarkably peaceful”.