, Columnist
Netanyahu Loses His Allies But Keeps His Grip on Power
Israel's leader has quashed his proteges, so who is ready to replace him?
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For most elected leaders, the speech Moshe Ya'alon gave last week at the annual Herzliya conference in Israel would have been devastating. Here Ya'alon, the former defense minister, accused his onetime patron Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of deliberately scaring Israelis in order to stay in power.
Some of this can be chalked up to egos. Ya'alon, who oversaw the Israel Defense Forces operations that quieted the Second Intifada, was asked by Netanyahu to leave his post to make room for Avigdor Lieberman, a man more than half of Israelis in a recent poll said was unqualified to run the defense ministry.