Netanyahu’s Legacy Is Safe In His Rivals’ Hands
A new coalition government is unlikely to last long, and Israel’s longest-serving prime minister will do everything he can to make sure it doesn’t.
A spoiler and a survivor
Photographer: Abir Sultan/AFP via Getty Images
It now looks likely that Israel will have a new government on Wednesday, formed by a coalition of political parties united in their determination to end Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year lock on power. His protégé-turned-rival, Naftali Bennett, is expected to become prime minister for two years, before handing the reins to Yair Lapid, the former finance minister.
It is unlikely that this marriage of political convenience will last long enough for handover of power the between the partners. One reason is that the ideological chasm between Bennett’s far-right Yamina party and Lapid’s centrist Yesh Atid is wide. Another is the political tenacity of Netanyahu, who is as adept at playing the spoiler as the survivor. He will devote himself to breaking the alliance, not least because it may be his best hope of avoiding prosecution on corruption charges lies in engineering a swift return to office. (Netanyahu had denied all wrongdoing.)