8 | APRIL 8 • 2021 

analysis
Israel Still Can’t Make Up its 
Mind About Netanyahu
W

hen the first exit 
polls were pub-
lished, it seemed 
as if the long stalemate had 
been ended. Within a couple 
of hours, howev-
er, the polls had 
been revised, 
and by the end 
of a long night 
and morning 
of counting, it 
turned out that 
the deadlock 
between those who wish to 
keep Benjamin Netanyahu as 
prime minister and those who 
want to get rid of him hadn’t 
been broken.
With all the ballots tallied, 
Netanyahu won the majority 
of the vote but doesn’t have a 
clear path to a 61-seat majori-
ty needed to form a coalition.
This fourth consecutive 
election stalemate in two years 
is a discouraging outcome for 
the Jewish state. It’s not just an 
annoying waste of time. More 
than that, it has been estimat-
ed that the cost of holding 
these four votes amounted to 
$4.24 billion — a staggering 
sum for a small country that, 
like the rest of the world, is 
dealing with the economic 
catastrophe caused by the 
ongoing coronavirus pandem-
ic. Aside from the not-incon-
siderable expenses involved in 
staging the contest, election 
days are legal holidays in 
Israel. That costs company 
holiday pay, as well as a loss 
of productivity and sales, even 
though some businesses, like 
restaurants, benefit from peo-
ple having the day off.

Then there is the plain fact 
that the lack of a national bud-
get for 2020 — let alone 2021 
— is also a blow to stability 
and the country’s economic 
well-being.
There is a national con-
sensus that the standoff has 
been something of a disgrace 
since, among other things, the 
frequency of elections means 
that Israel has now surpassed 
Italy as the home of the most 
unstable democracy in the 
world. And yet, the one per-
son who hasn’t been hurt by 
it is Netanyahu. The failure to 
form a stable government has 
served him fairly well since it 
enables him to govern without 
actually winning an election. 
Even the lack of a budget has 
made it easier for him since 
he hasn’t been hampered by 
the financial negotiations that 
would have undermined his 
agenda.
Indeed, in the course of the 
last year, Netanyahu hasn’t 
just managed to stay afloat. 
Since Israel was last forced to 
the polls, the prime minis-
ter had what historians may 
ultimately say were his two 
greatest accomplishments: 
the signing of the Abraham 
Accords and the successful 
effort to get Israelis vaccinated 
against COVID-19, enabling 
it to be the first of nations to 
essentially emerge from the 
yearlong pandemic crisis.
Any leader with two such 
impressive achievements to 
his credit might have expected 
to be easily re-elected. But the 
election results speak volumes 
about both his strengths and 

his weaknesses. That’s because 
it could also be said that no 
prime minister who was fac-
ing trial for three corruption 
charges and who had worn 
out his welcome with both the 
public and political colleagues 
after 12 consecutive years in 
office could reasonably pre-
sume to emerge from an elec-
tion as the head of the largest 
party and as the only person 
with a chance to form a gov-
ernment, as is also the case 
with Netanyahu.
His able statesmanship and 
skillful governance — not to 
mention a national consen-
sus behind his core positions 
on issues that used to divide 
Israel over policy toward the 
Palestinians, territory and 
settlements — have made him 
something of an institution. 
It’s no wonder that polls show 
that most Israelis (including 
many who don’t vote for him) 
think that he’s the most qual-
ified person to hold the top 
job.

Still, his constant scheming, 
untrustworthiness in political 
negotiations and the sense 
of entitlement that go with 
having stayed in office so long 
with no thought of groom-
ing a successor, let alone 
stepping aside for the next 
generation, has also fueled 
rage at Netanyahu on the part 
of a broad cross-section of 
the Israeli public. It may be 
created by a mix of partisan-
ship and ideology (many in 
the “anybody but Bibi” camp 
would be similarly determined 
to oppose any Likud leader or 
non-leftist), but it is nonethe-
less real. His followers cannot 
imagine Israel being led by 
anyone else. And yet the fact 
that so many Israelis seem 
focused on nothing but the 
quest to topple him has fur-
ther embittered the country’s 
political discourse.
Can Netanyahu find a way 
out of the corner into which 
the Israeli public has painted 
itself?

Jonathan S. 
Tobin
JNS.org

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses supporters 
on election night at Likud Party headquarters in Jerusalem, 
March 23, 2021. 

PHOTO BY OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90.

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