Has the Netanyahu government reached the end of its road?

It can easily be argued that in a government comprising six parties with very little in common, the countdown to its demise starts the day it was formed. This must be even truer when the issues are as acute as the ones the current government faces. Yet this 34th government of Israel is failing its citizens every step of the way. The only reason new elections are not called is that most parties in Parliament are too afraid to face the electorate.

The current political crisis, which led Netanyahu to threaten to call for fresh elections, was triggered by his obsession with controlling the media. This is a reflection of an increasingly isolated and detached prime minister who is under police investigation for an array of corruption charges.

In a bizarre court case, he and his wife are suing a journalist who claimed his wife once kicked him out of their car during a ride on the Tel AvivJerusalem highway. It is for the court to decide if this is true, but for a prime minister to sue and appear in court for something posted on Facebook indicates a worrying lack of judgment verging on paranoia.

It is not only his personal behavior and integrity that are under question. Equally important, if not more, is his constant pandering to the right- wing, religious and messianic elements in Israeli politics. There is a constant attack on freedom of speech, and a move toward an ultra- nationalist- religious agenda.

Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan, for instance, was reported as planning to set up a database of Israeli citizens involved in promoting and supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions ( BDS) movement against Israel or its settlements. The education minister presses hard for the annexation of parts of the West Bank and the expansion of Jewish settlements.

The smart money should be bet on Netanyahu entering the winter of his political life. He is clinging to power because it helps him avert indictment for corruption and possible jail time. Meanwhile the government is paralyzed, ravaged by internal wrangling stirred up by a captain who has lost his moral compass and sense of purpose. Yossi Mekelberg is professor of international relations at Regent’s University London, where he is head of the International Relations and Social Sciences Program. He is also an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. He is a regular contributor to the international written and electronic media.