This is what one of his old teachers had to say about Benjamin Netanyahu: “He is very intelligent. Organized. Strong. Powerful. He knew what he wanted and how to get it done.”
And this is a secret conversation between Nicolas Sarkozy and Barack Obama (during a G20 summit in 2011, when they were presidents of France and America respectively). The first: “I can’t tolerate him anymore, he’s a liar.” And the second: “If you already think you’ve had enough of him… I deal with him every day.”
Benjamin Netanyahu (74), ‘King Bibi’, leaves no one unmoved. That is almost impossible when you are Prime Minister of Israel, a country that is admired and hated with as much passion. And especially not when you have been leading the Israeli government for more than sixteen years (longer than anyone else), when you are pretty much the only Prime Minister for younger generations they have known, sometimes saying one thing and then another, and seems glued to the plush.
The first important factor in his life is his family. Benjamin was born in Tel Aviv, the middle of three sons. Not much is said or written about mother Tzila, but even more about father Benzion. He is a historian, specialized in the Jewish Golden Age in Spain, a ‘genius’ (according to his son), but above all a convinced revisionist. Benzion believes, like all Zionists, that Jews have the right to a homeland, but emphatically believes that it must be defended tooth and nail. For example, the founder of this ultranationalist movement, Ze’ev Jabotinsky, advocates an “iron wall of Jewish bayonets.”
This is how Benjamin grows up. The Netanyahus are an intellectual family, not religious, but very nationalistic and filled with the Greater Israel idea. During his youth they lived for long periods in America, in Cheltenham Township, a suburb of Philadelphia. There he goes to school and picks up his heavy American accent. He participates in debating, chess and football. In 1967, when duty called, he returned to Israel to enlist in the army.
For five years he served in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit (with the motto ‘He who dares, wins’). During that turbulent period he was involved in various secret operations and was injured several times. He even becomes team leader. Yet his older brother Yonatan is the great hero of the family. He was also a member of Sayeret Matkal, and was killed in 1976 during Operation Lightning Bolt: the storming of a plane hijacked by Palestinian and German terrorists at Entebbe airport in Uganda. “Bibi does have military prestige, but that largely reflects on his brother,” says someone who has followed him all these years.
Later his family, or his ‘court’ as some say, plays a completely different role. In particular, his third wife Sara and his eldest son Yair are perhaps even more in the news than he is, and not always positively. For example, the former stood out for her diva-like behavior during a visit to the Netherlands in 2012. “She had her own hairdressers and dressers with her,” said a source who was there. “And they all had to and would sit near her during Bibi’s speech in the Portuguese Synagogue. The entire placement had to be changed!”
It doesn’t bother him. At least, not yet. The scandals surrounding Sara and Yair, among others, could certainly get him into trouble, but more about that in a moment. First the other determining factor for his political career: his tireless and unwavering drive to make Israel as resilient as possible. It is precisely for this reason that as Prime Minister (and as Minister of Finance, because that is what he was) he has placed such an emphasis on the economy. “The state of Israel is intended to guarantee the future of the Jewish people,” he said in a recent interview. “And how do you survive? By being strong. Very strong. With an extremely powerful army, with F35s, submarines, drones, cyber technology. But that costs money. That is why I am an ardent supporter of the free market. That’s why I changed the economic foundation of our country.”
Yes, that’s something he did really well, an observer now says. “He has given wings to Israel. Twenty years ago, in a time of spiraling inflation, he got the economy back on track. He has liberalized everything, like a kind of Margaret Thatcher. The socialist kibbutz system was stripped down, the business community was given all the space it needed. That was less pleasant for some people, because their safety net disappeared. But it has made Israel stronger.”
And then you might think that the ‘Palestinian question’ is the main threat to Israel. That would certainly explain the current large-scale war against Hamas (and also the previous wars against the Palestinians under Netanyahu’s rule). But the great enemy is and remains Iran: the third constant in the prime minister’s life. It is also what his father Benzion says, a few years before his death (he was 102!), when asked what his son’s most important task is: “He has to stop Iran.” Point.
And Netanyahu himself says it wherever he can: Iran is the main threat to Israel’s future and survival. “You don’t want a radical Islamic regime with nuclear weapons,” is what it sounds like. “Israel is the only power preventing Iran from taking over the Middle East.” And, in a clear message to Washington: “Also the only one that prevents Tehran from targeting the US. A nuclear-armed Iran could threaten any American city.” He even clashed sharply with then-President Obama in 2015 when he wanted to make a deal with Tehran. Unacceptable, Netanyahu thought (and eventually found President Trump on his side, who blew up the agreement). The still shared interest is one of the explanations for the almost unbridled financial and military support from friends from America.
Netanyahu’s muscle-busting policy also led to the Abraham Accords. Precisely because Israel is so strong and can make a stand against Iran, agreements have been made with Arab (and Sunni) countries that do not want a fight with Jerusalem and want to thwart Shia Tehran. Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Morocco were already on board, Saudi Arabia almost was, but is now pausing in protest against the war in Gaza. It is widely seen as a great success for the prime minister.
Yet his political life is now hanging by a thread. For starters, he has a few corruption lawsuits under his belt. He allegedly accepted gifts, expensive cigars, champagne and jewelry (for Sara) in exchange for political favors. He would read the newspaper Yedioth Ahronot have enticed favorable reporting in exchange for stricter rules for a competitor. There are more, but he denies everything.
Then there is criticism of the new friends he has made to form the current government. In order to stay in power, he brings in everyone who is in front of him: in this case extremists and ultranationalists such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. “It has damaged his credibility,” said one observer. They also help him in his fight against the Supreme Court. Netanyahu wants parliament, where he has the majority, to be able to overrule rulings by the highest judges. Read, according to a growing chorus of critics: his impending convictions can be reversed.
The role that Sara has started to play is also causing more and more resistance. Her performance in Amsterdam was not an incident, she often behaves like the ‘Queen of Israel’. Last year, she actually had to be rescued by police, secret service and helicopters during a visit to a fancy hairdresser in Tel Aviv. An angry crowd did not accept her haircut, while the city was gripped by violent demonstrations against her husband’s government. And a political science professor complained that Sara has assigned herself a role that does not fit in a democracy: “In the last few years, not a single important official has been appointed who has not been extensively questioned by Sara.”
And then there is Yair. His son is not only a ‘special close advisor’, but also bashes his father’s left-wing opponents on social media. Sometimes he goes too far and has to pay a hefty fine, such as $18,000 to an opposition member he called “ugly.” He has come under fire in recent months for living safely in Miami instead of enlisting in the military.
But for many people, the worst of all is the shock that ‘October 7’ has brought. How can a prime minister who insists so much on the strength of Israel, on the quality of the army, on the safety of the population, have gone so wrong? How can Hamas just kill 1,143 Israelis in the fall of last year and still hold more than 130 people hostage? Netanyahu has failed spectacularly, as it now sounds among a large majority of the population: Netanyahu must go. Maybe not now, in the middle of a war, but at least as soon as possible afterwards. The polls provide a clear picture in that regard.
Loyal allies also openly express harsh criticism of Netanyahu. President Biden is said to have called him an ‘asshole’ behind closed doors and openly describes the possible impending attack on Rafah as a ‘mistake’. The US will never let Israel fall, but the pressure is greater than ever. Dutch Prime Minister Rutte, who rarely doubts his support for Israel, is even considering punitive measures if Rafah is stormed. He has “very serious concerns” about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
‘King Bibi’ has weathered many storms, but the end of Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, of its youngest-ever prime minister (he was 46 when he first took office in 1996), of the first leader born in the independent state, now seems closer than ever.
