Thus, the era of Benjamin Netanyahu’s nearly 12-year rule, characterized by Israel’s demonstrative refusal to fulfill the commitments it made in Oslo in 1993 to find a peaceful solution to the Palestinian question, and by a return to the policy of occupying Palestine and annexing its new territories, seems to be coming to an end.
The only person who could have saved his premiership by joining his governing coalition, Naftali Bennett, the leader of the right-wing «Yamina» party, announced yesterday that he has instead agreed to form a government with a broad opposition coalition consisting of opposition right-wing Zionists, liberals and leftists.
What Bennett did not mention is that this government will be able to be formed for the first time thanks to the informal support of the Arab party, specifically the Ra’am party, which is historically associated with the «Muslim Brotherhood». In other words, Netanyahu’s plan, which required the recent war with the Palestinians to unite the right-wing Zionist camp around him and destroy the emerging alliance between opposition right-wingers, liberals, leftists, and even Arab «Islamists,» has failed.
«This is a terribly sad day for the supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — the ‘Bibistas’. The movement that rallied around Netanyahu during his years in power, mindlessly following him as he delegitimized the left and then those on the right who dared to oppose him, is extremely demoralized. Netanyahu has always drawn his strength from the «us against the world» narrative. What can be done — those who fight against the whole world will most likely be defeated by him,» says an article in today’s Haaretz titled «Netanyahu May Leave, But His Supporters Won’t Leave Him.
The article discusses how Netanyahu has finally realized the failure of his policy of treating right-wing politicians and journalists as traitors for not supporting him and opening negotiations with liberals, leftists and even Arabs on the horizon. This policy has ceased to work because in the moral climate he has created, one after another of his former allies has concluded that it is better for them to ally with the left than to be under Netanyahu’s dictatorship. «Netanyahu’s supporters have become a fiercely despondent sect that opposes the rest of society and views anyone who is not with them as an enemy,» writes the author of this article, Ravit Hecht. And this has apparently finally exhausted the various forces, allowing them to unite.
However, this alliance of «hawks» and «doves», with supporters of the continued annexation of Palestinian territories and the construction of new settlements on the one hand, and supporters of the recognition of an independent Palestine on the other, is unlikely to last. Therefore, as soon as they come to power, it can be expected that a fierce struggle will begin within this government, capable of burying the new coalition. Netanyahu, who is now in the opposition, is expected by Ravit Hecht to lead the most furious fight against his enemies and «traitors».
It can be assumed that an external factor may also play a significant role in this struggle. First of all, of course, the American factor, considering that the Joe Biden administration has neither forgotten nor forgiven Netanyahu for his alliance with Donald Trump, considering their joint course controversial, and now expects the new Israeli establishment to resume the peace process with the Palestinians based on the two-state formula.
However, this is not the first time this has happened — it happened in the 1990s, when Bill Clinton was president of the United States and Netanyahu was prime minister of Israel for the first time. Then he and his like-minded people managed to derail the peace process. Will he be able to do it again?