Netanyahu’s era of invincibility is over, and his legal woes are just starting

It was just six weeks ago that Benjamin Netanyahu strode on to the stage in Tel Aviv and declared victory in Israel’s election. The political maestro had done it

again. He had secured a fifth term and seen off a reinvigorated opposition, and he looked on course to use his majority to change the law and shield himself from prosecution.

That all fell apart in a few chaotic hours on Wednesday. Unable to form a majority coalition government, he forced a new election which neither he nor voters wanted.

Mr Netanyahu’s air of invincibility has been shattered. The law of political gravity, it seems, applies to him as well as to mere mortals. His biographer described it as his “worst night in 13 years”.

The Israeli prime minister’s immediate concern is criminal prosecution following allegations that he illegally accepted luxury gifts and changed public regulations in return for favourable coverage from a media tycoon. (He denies wrongdoing.)

His plan had been to use the coming months to alter the rules so that he would have immunity while in office. Political insiders described him as being obsessed with the issue. Those plans will have to wait until after the election, or they could instead be scrapped.

Mr Netanyahu had been given a reminder of his circling legal woes earlier on Wednesday, when his wife agreed to pay £12,000 to settle her own fraud case.

It is still entirely possible – perhaps it is even likely – that Mr Netanyahu will win the next election. No gambler ever grew wealthy by betting against him. But he faces several potential headwinds.

Voters tend to punish the ruling party for dysfunction in government, and Israelis who are frustrated at being dragged to the polls for a second time may take it out on the prime minister’s Likud party.

Also, because he did not expect to face voters again for several years, Mr Netanyahu has been less than subtle about his ambitions to secure immunity for himself. That may mean that the opposition’s allegations that he is vandalising Israeli democracy will stick in the coming election in a way that they did not last time.

Finally, there is a danger for Mr Netanyahu that Israelis have simply had enough of his drama. They could turn to a boring but dependable figure – such as the centrist opposition leader Benny Gantz – in the hope that he will give them a quiet life.