Netanyahu is down, but is he out for good?

After frantic negotiations, on Sunday the so-called change coalition succeeded in forming a government in Israel, replacing the country’s longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, with his one-time protégé Naftali Bennett. The race is now on for “the end of Bibi” editorializing — mostly by individuals who have opposed Netanyahu and who are euphoric about his purported fall. Certainly Netanyahu’s polarizing personality and his tendency to alienate many of his closest associates have played a significant role in his current predicament. Although for a politician over 70 this can hardly be characterized as “the end of the beginning,” it is almost certainly not Netanyahu’s last act. To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of his demise may be greatly exaggerated.

One significant advantage for Netanyahu as he leaves office is the makeup of the government that is replacing him. The internal contradictions and incoherence of the change coalition were on full display last week as the group blew through a deadline when they could not come to an agreement on managing the roads in West Bank; this was an excellent example of the sort of contentious issue that will bedevil a coalition that includes both an Islamist Arab party and a far-right party, which tend to see such things very differently. But the new government now in power indeed marks a momentous change for the Jewish state, with the right-wing Bennett slated to lead the country for two years, followed by a two-year term for center-left Yair Lapid.

If the new coalition is simply about change, the question then becomes: With Netanyahu out of office and cooler heads prevailing, do most Israelis really want change? Israel is increasingly a center-right country, with the once-powerful Labor party reduced to a shadow of its former self. Netanyahu’s Likud party still overwhelmingly supports him because of the strategic vision he brought to governing, driven by his disciplined focus on the two issues broadly supported by the electorate: Iran and the economy.

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Victoria Coates

Victoria Coates works on regional issues such as energy policy, countering predatory Chinese activity, expanding the historic Abraham Accords between Israel and Muslim-majority nations, and establishing a U.S.-led Middle East strategic alliance. Coates routinely appears on TV and radio outlets such as Fox News, CNN, OANN, Newsmax, The Hugh Hewitt Show, The Erick Erickson Show, The John Batchelor show, and CSP’s own Secure Freedom Radio. Her writing has appeared in Bloomberg, FoxNews.com, The Jerusalem Post, The New York Post, Newsweek, The National Interest, National Review, The New Criterion, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Examiner, and The Washington Times.

Coates previously served as the Deputy National Security Advisor for the Middle East and North Africa on the National Security Council staff and the Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of Energy in the Donald J. Trump administration. She also served as the National Security Advisor in the office of Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and as Director of Research for (former) Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s 2011 memoir, Known and Unknown.

Coates holds a B.A. from Trinity College, a M.A. from Williams College, and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, all in art history. Coates is the author and presenter of dozens of publications and conference papers worldwide on the intersections of art and history, including David’s Sling: A History of Democracy in Ten Works of Art (Encounter Books, 2016) and the forthcoming Seeing the Light: A History of Christianity in Twelve Works of Art (under contract with Encounter Books), which are part of a projected trilogy on the key tenets of Western Civilization: democracy, the Judeo-Christian moral code, and the primacy of the individual.

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