‘Bibi generation’ starting to turn on Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu
TEL AVIV – For two months, many Israeli television viewers watched nightly as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued warnings and updates about the novel coronavirus and imposed lockdowns.
When infections fell, he went on television on May 26 to boast of his success. “Have a beer. Enjoy yourselves,” he said. Many Israelis did just that.
But infections later surged, and opinions polls showed confidence in Netanyahu was falling. He now faces nationwide protests over the state of the economy, hit by the coronavirus.
Waving banners outside the prime minister’s Jerusalem residence, the demonstrators are led by young people who scarcely remember any other leader -- Netanyahu has been prime minister since 2009 -but want him to resign.
“We are a generation who have lost complete faith in the system. People are fighting for their livelihood,” said Costa Black, 30, who was arrested during the protests and lost his restaurant job because of the pandemic’s impact on the economy. “Our leaders stopped serving us, they don’t care about us.”
A July 12 poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found 29.5 per cent trust the 70-year-old leader’s handling of the crisis, down from 57.5 per cent in April and 47 per cent in June.
Netanyahu has rebuked the protesters, tweeting: “Don’t drag the country towards anarchy, violence and attacks against the police.”
But critics say Netanyahu -- who normally receives high marks for his economic policies -- appeared to lose interest in managing the crisis and failed to prepare a clear exit strategy after the first lockdown.
Promised financial aid has been slow to arrive, and has been dogged by bureaucracy, businesses say.
Some Israelis believe Netanyahu was distracted by plans to annex parts of the Israelioccupied West Bank. Others say his attention turned to a corruption case against him, in which he denies wrongdoing.
Netanyahu dismisses the criticism. Addressing the delays in providing financial aid, he wrote on Facebook this week: “The money is on its way. We will continue to take care of all Israeli citizens and we will bring more plans soon.”
With a population of nine million, Israel has recorded 68,000 coronavirus infections, of which 75 per cent occurred post-lockdown, and 497 fatalities. It is now on a “Red List” of countries whose citizens are barred from the European Union.
Many restrictions have been lifted to revive business activity, but unemployment hovers at 21.5 per cent and the economy is expected to contract by six per cent in 2020. A Central Bureau of Statistics survey showed 55 per cent of Israelis fear they will have difficulty paying bills, up from 46 per cent during lockdown.
“Israelis understood in March-April that the situation is difficult and were willing to accept it because they felt the government was doing the utmost,” Israeli Democracy Institute President Yohanan Plesner said.
“Now the sense is the government is no longer managing, from both an economic standpoint and a health standpoint.”
Plesner said the long-term implications for Netanyahu remain unclear. But the latest poll would give his Likud Party just 31 of the parliament’s 120 seats, down five. Other right-wing parties would improve their standing.