Israel Even in his eleventh hour, Netanyahu claims to be a victim of the ‘deep state’

ONE of the problems whenever writing about the political demise of Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu is that almost invariably you turn out to be wrong. As his 12-year grip on power has shown, this is not a politician who goes down without a fight.

I’m wary, then, of predicting that today with be the day that we see Netanyahu leave office even if all the signs are that his time as Israel’s leader is up. To say that Israel’s political community is awash with bad blood would be a considerable understatement. In claims reminiscent of the last days of Trump’s presidency,

Netanyahu, even at this eleventh hour, continues to lash out claiming to be a victim of a “deep state” conspiracy and accusing his opponents of betraying their voters, resulting in some of them needing special security protection.

But working on the assumption that today will be Netanyahu’s last day as PM, what now can we expect from Israel’s new leader in waiting, hard-right ultranationalist Naftali Bennett?

Well, perhaps all the clues are in the words of that last sentence for this is a politician who himself is no shrinking violet, far from it.

That Bennett is set to claim Israel’s highest office with the support of the fringe left and the Jewish state’s only Arab party still has people blinking in disbelief, but then the seduction of power is a peculiar thing.

One thing that can be said is that 49-year-old Bennett is a shrewd and calculating operator with a ruthless streak that more than matches

Netanyahu’s. That Bennett would only be in office for two years as part of a rotating premiership with Yair Lapid, the opposition leader who assembled the coalition, only gives rise to further questions as to how much Bennett might be in a hurry to get things done.

Once the leader of a prominent Jewish settler group, it’s hard to see how he will be tempered simply by being part of any coalition. As for IsraeliPalestinian relations, Bennett’s position was summed up on an animated account of his plans posted on his official YouTube page.

“There are some things that we all know will never happen,” says the narrator in a carefree voice. “The Sopranos will never return for another season ... And a peace agreement with the Palestinians will not happen.”

Come to think of it, though, I suspect neither the Palestinians nor indeed anyone else ever thought that a possibility anyway.