Netanyahu’s annexation threat comes under fire
incumbent prime minister’s campaign focuses on smearing opponents as weak leftists
jordan — Israel’s leader will face a “real problem” if he follows through with his election campaign promise to annex Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian foreign minister said on Sunday.
Riad Malki said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Jordan that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge was likely aimed at rallying his nationalist base in the final stretch of a tight race. He added that Palestinians would “resist” such a policy if carried out.
“If Netanyahu wants to declare Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, then you know he has to face a real problem, the presence of 4.5 million Palestinians, what to do with them,” Malki said. —
Netanyahu is a competent political manoeuvrer and the most effective political communicator in Israel’s history. And his personal motivation to continue to hold onto power is infinite Yohanan Plesner, president of
the Israel Democracy Institute
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu incites against us more than anyone, and each time he breaks his own record
Ayman Odeh, A prominent Arab lawmaker
Israel’s election campaign has been a three-month roller coaster of mudslinging, scandals and more scandals. But when voters head to the polls on Tuesday, one name will be predominantly on their minds: Benjamin Netanyahu.
At its core, the vote boils down to a referendum on Netanyahu, the man who has dominated Israeli politics for the better part of three decades.
A victory will propel him into the record books later this year as the longest-serving Israeli prime minister, surpassing founding father David Ben-Gurion.
A loss would likely end his career just as he is enjoying the limelight at the vanguard of a rising global movement of tough-talking, nationalist world leaders led by his close friend, President Donald Trump.
“Israel’s standing internationally has never been as solid as it is right now. International leaders are lining up to visit Israel and meet the prime minister,” said Yechiel Leiter, a former Netanyahu chief of staff who is now a senior fellow at the Kohelet Policy Forum, a conservative Jerusalem think tank. “Everyone knows Bibi wherever you go.”
Netanyahu’s impassioned supporters revere him as larger-thanlife “King Bibi,” friend of powerful world leaders and guarantor of Israel’s security in a tough neighbourhood. His opponents revile him as a corrupt hedonist who has divided the country by inciting against Arabs and whose policies toward the Palestinians are leading Israel off a cliff.
In the final days of the campaign, the race appears too close to call as Netanyahu faces a strong challenge from Benny Gantz, a popular former army chief.
Polls show Netanyahu’s Likud party and Gantz’s new Blue and White party neck and neck.
The surveys give Likud a slight advantage in being able to put together a governing coalition with
smaller, likeminded parties. The son of a Jewish historian and scarred by the loss of his brother in a 1976 Israeli commando raid on a hijacked airline at Uganda’s Entebbe airport, Netanyahu, 69, often portrays himself — and the country — in historical terms. He laces his speeches with references to Jewish history, tales of Jewish heroism and warnings that Israel’s most sinister enemies lurk around every corner.
The main target of his diatribes, Iran, is often compared to biblical enemies and even the Nazis.
Though he is an MIT-educated millionaire who speaks flawless American-accented English, Netanyahu has managed to portray himself as an outsider and underdog. He claims to be persecuted by journalists, judges and other hostile “elites” in a message that endears him to his religious, working class political base.
“He’s unprecedentedly gifted. He’s a competent political maneuverer and the most effective political communicator in Israel’s history,” said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. “And his personal motivation to continue to hold onto power is infinite.”
Netanyahu’s campaign has focused heavily on smearing opponents as weak “leftists,” routinely claiming they are conspiring with the country’s Arab parties against him. Opponents accuse him of incitement and demonising Israel’s Arab minority, which makes up roughly 20 per cent of the population. “Netanyahu incites against us more than anyone, and each time he breaks his own record,” wrote Ayman Odeh, a prominent Arab lawmaker, on Twitter.
It’s a formula that has worked before — and this time, he has an added Trump card.
Since taking office, Trump has given Netanyahu gift after gift, recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal and cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians.
All but endorsing Netanyahu, Trump hosted him at the White House late last month and recognized Israel’s annexation of the occupied Golan Heights.
Over the weekend, Netanyahu announced in a television interview that if re-elected, he would move to annex Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a step that would likely erase the last hopes of a twostate solution with the Palestinians.
Anshel Pfeffer, author of Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of
Benjamin Netanyahu,” said the Israeli leader has managed to leverage every major geopolitical event in recent years to his advantage.
The election campaign has been especially nasty. Netanyahu has branded his opponent a weak “leftist” and tried to seize on the discovery that Gantz’s mobile phone was infiltrated by Iranian hackers. Likud attack ads paint Gantz as stuttering and mentally unstable.
Gantz, 59, accuses Netanyahu of leading the country to “low and bad places.” —