With a poking finger at his fellow citizens, Benjamin Netanyahu is calling on voters to vote for him and his Likud party next Tuesday from posters on the backs of many buses in Jerusalem. The 73-year-old former prime minister, who has ruled the country longer than anyone since Israel became independent in 1948, hopes for another term after more than a year of opposition.
“Netanyahu forever, that’s just better for the country,” laughs a young, solidly built Jewish man with a yarmulke who eats a salad in the large covered market hall on Malane Yehuda Street. Elsewhere in this predominantly Jewish middle-class neighborhood just outside the center of Jerusalem, old hand Netanyahu can count on a lot of support.
It is certain that Likud will once again become the largest party, but the big question is whether ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu will manage to gather enough coalition partners for a majority in the otherwise very divided parliament, the Knesset. Last year that failed and a mixed bag of anti-Netanyahu supporters took power, led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid.
A significant handicap for ‘Bibi’ is that he has been involved in trials for suspected corruption during his tenure. Partly because of this, he continues to divide the spirits in Israel. His absence has been making cabinet formations more difficult for three years now. Some parties therefore refuse to join a government with him. Others no longer want to do business with him after previous high-profile conflicts. This is also one of the reasons Israelis are going to the polls next week for the fifth time in just under four years.
“Netanyahu is corrupt,” said Ohad Grossman, a bearded history teacher who has a beer with a friend on a covered patio. Whenever his own interests clash with those of the country, he lets his own prevail. I vote left, definitely not him.” One woman, who won’t give her name, admits she used to vote for Netanyahu but doesn’t anymore. “My husband still does. We argue about it all the time at home.”
Opinion polls indicate that Israel may have its most right-wing government ever. Netanyahu, realizing that this could be his last chance at the premiership, is ready to partner with the Religious Zionist Party of Bezalel Smotrich and Otzma Yehudit of Itamar Ben Gvir. They want to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which could lead to new violent clashes with the Palestinians.
Ben Gvir in particular takes extreme positions. He believes that stone-throwing Palestinian boys should be shot and often shouts to Palestinians: “Your village must burn.” Opponents accuse Smotrich and Ben Gvir of acting like fascists.
Decades of Righting
A right-wing government in itself is not a novelty in Israel. Surveys show that about 60 percent of Jewish Israelis consider themselves right-wing, and 70 percent of young people see themselves as right-wing. This shift has been going on for decades. Analysts attribute this phenomenon mainly to the ongoing clashes with the Palestinians. They also provide Jews with a constant feeling of insecurity, which benefits the right.
“I don’t know which party yet, but I’m going to vote on the right in any case,” says 35-year-old Lital, peering over her sunglasses. She is the mother of two young children and only wants to give her first name. “We live close to the Gaza Strip and have seen rockets fly over many times. I want my children to be safe and only a right-wing government takes the safety of Jews seriously.”
The right-wing parties, especially Netanyahu’s Likud, have done everything they can to strengthen their grip on the country during their time in power. This has often been at the expense of Israel’s democratic quality. It is not without reason that Netanyahu is now often mentioned in the same breath as Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán and Turkish President Erdogan, countries where democracy is also subject to erosion.
For years, Netanyahu has made it appear that the judiciary is only out to break him politically, especially after corruption investigations against him were launched. He conveniently forgot that the highest judicial authorities had been appointed by himself.
Right-wing parties hate strong independent judges who slap politicians on the fingers anyway. They believe that it is not up to judges to test government and parliament proposals against existing laws; the point is that the will of the majority in parliament is decisive, even if that is only a paper-thin majority, as has been the case in recent years.
They consider any restriction on the power of the Knesset a violation of democracy Dahlia Scheindlin, a political scientist, on the phone. “They use the terminology of democracy with the aim of undermining it.”
Whenever possible, Netanyahu and his allies have been trying to get judges appointed who share their position in recent years.
Apartheid
The increasing inequality between Jews and Palestinians – especially abroad many people increasingly compare Israel with the apartheid regime in South Africa – undermines democracy. Jerusalem is an example of this. The more than 300,000 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, for example, are not allowed to vote on Tuesday, even though Israel also takes all important decisions for their district. More than 450,000 Jewish settlers who have settled – illegally under international law – in the West Bank are allowed to do so.
Right-wing politicians also shower critics in the media with reproaches. They would only spread lies to favor leftist groups. Activists campaigning for civil rights for the Palestinians present them as enemies of Israel. “They delegitimize the concept of human rights and thereby undermine democracy,” said Scheindlin. “Israel wants to be seen as a democracy by the outside world, but in that case it has a responsibility to become more democratic than it is today.”
Nonsense, commentators on the right say, something else is going on. “There is a natural tension between those in Israel who want to emphasize liberal and secular values and those who want to prioritize the Jewish nature of the state in Israeli society,” Jonathan S. Tobin wrote in this week. a column in the newspaper Hayomowned by a friend of Netanyahu. And all that criticism from the left? Tobin simply dismissed these as feelings of frustration that the left will never win elections again.
Also read: Paralyzing divisions break up Israel
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of October 29, 2022