Benjamin netanyahu

On Sunday, Beto O’Rourke claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t ‘represent the true will of the Israeli people.’ Israel is a democracy in which every citizen has the right to vote, a fact of international trivia apparently lost on O’Rourke. Although it’s easy to criticize Bibi for many of his recent remarks — and for his recent decision to welcome the racist Jewish Power party into the mainstream, it’s silly to argue that he doesn’t represent the true will of the Israeli people. The Israeli people have spoken for more than a decade: they like to have Bibi at the helm. It’s possible the Israeli people will have something new to say in their election today.

Benjamin Netanyahu is manipulative, petty and deceitful. He is determined to win, regardless of the damage wrought by victory. He has few of the habits of the admirable statesman, and most of the hallmarks of political genius. This charmless man has steered Israel through the Obama presidency and the Arab Spring; presided over an economic and hi-tech boom; avoided open war with Iran and contained Hamas; and expanded Israel’s diplomatic links in Asia, South America, Africa and, in smaller but significant ways, with previously hostile Sunni Arab states. All that may no longer be enough.

Is Israel a Jewish state, or is it just a state of Jews? Just how Jewish can a state be without interfering with its core democratic ideals? Does a Jewish state necessarily mean a religious state? These are the sorts of questions that Jews around the world have been asking themselves since the modern state of Israel evolved from dream to reality. The questions are complicated; the answers more so. In the last few days, these questions have been given renewed importance and urgency.  The answers have inspired deep fissures within the state of Israel and within the broader Jewish community. This Monday marked 25 years since Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish terrorist, entered the cave of the Patriarchs and shot up a room full of Muslims at prayer.

Over his last decade in power, Benjamin Netanyahu has easily seen off all challengers. The Labour Party has gone through four leaders during this period, whose main achievement has been to transform the party which founded Israel 70 years ago in to an irrelevant relic. ‘Centrist’ leaders who tried to enter the vacuum left by Labour had their brief moments but failed to threaten Netanyahu’s primacy. Netanyahu has had three key elements working for him. His own personal standing as ‘Mr Security,’ Israel’s only remaining responsible grown-up, with the experience of navigating the country through treacherous geopolitical waters. The base of his Likud party which has held together, despite the growing national fatigue from his overbearing presence.