Time is running out for Bibi Netanyahu. In the next couple of days, the fate of Israel’s next government will be decided. If opposition parties manage to reach a deal tonight, it will mean that Bibi and the Likud will no longer be in power – for the first time in twelve years.
Four rounds of elections made two things clear: that about two-thirds of the public votes for right-wing parties; and that Bibi has become the Israeli’s right’s biggest problem. A dozen years in power has made Netanyahu arrogant, entitled and hated by a large portion of the public, including right-wing voters. This has been made worse by deep resentment towards his wife Sarah and son, Yair, both of whom have meddled in politics. This cost Likud votes, and may now cost it the government.
In efforts to form a coalition, Bibi has offered the three leaders of the right-wing parties, Avigdor Lieberman, Naftali Bennett and Gideon Sa’ar, rotation deals in return for their support. They all turned him down. All three have had a personal falling-out with Netanyahu. They also don’t trust him. Netanyahu signed a rotation agreement with Blue and White leader Benny Gantz in order to form the current government, a move that has divided Blue and White and lost Gantz support, only for Bibi to announce a few months later that he didn’t intend to hold up his end of the deal. Understandably, this lost him credibility for negotiating such deals. Even though the tide seemed to be turning in Bibi’s favour during Operation Guardian of the Walls, during which Bennett briefly suggested – in what may have only been a political ploy – that he might agree to a deal, things now seem grim again.
Netanyahu is scared. He has spent years demonising his political opponents on the left.
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