One of the key questions raised in recent days has touched on the conciliatory tone of the victory speech delivered by the Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Everything was in place for Netanyahu to behave precisely as his supporters and partners would have wanted. The crowd repeated chants of "governance", many waited to hear him talk about plans to amend the judiciary, and everybody wanted to hear the usual bombastic declarations designed to whip up the already frenzied crowd, but Netanyahu opted for the absolute opposite, speaking of "restoring internal peace among us."
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What has happened to Netanyahu? Some will claim that this was a well-planned political move, while others in his immediate entourage are already speaking of another Netanyahu. If you ask Netanyahu if this is his last term of office, he will be sure to laugh out loud and remind you of his genetic makeup, the son of a father who died at the ripe old age of 102. But deep down, he is also aware that the coming four years are likely to be his last in public life, and he is more than eager for them to evolve in a manner fitting to define him as a historic leader.
The idle ranting of Avi Maoz, number 11 on the far-right Religious Zionist Party, relating to his desire to cancel the gay pride marches, are of no interest to him whatsoever. Neither is he taken up by the desire for revenge on his bitter rivals, Prime Minister Yair Lapid, Defense Minister Benny Gantz or Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar. Netanyahu the statesman believes that he has much more important issues to deal with. In the initial months of his tenure, he is scheduled to travel to the US to meet with President Joe Biden, to visit those countries with whom he signed the Abraham Accords, so as to remind the public just who is responsible for this achievement, and he will no doubt also try to bring at least one or two new agreements home with him. The Iranian threat is also expected to feature prominently on his agenda.
In addition to this, Netanyahu is expected to pull out all the stops in his attempts to deal with the economic situation. Lowering the cost of living could definitely give him much-desired credit right across the political spectrum: right-wingers, left-wingers, secular and ultra-Orthodox alike – everybody is feeling the pinch. If he does succeed in dealing with this issue, he will be eternally remembered for having "slain the dragon". Significant economic action is not forgotten even after years and years. To this day, Netanyahu is remembered for having lowered the child allowance given to ultra-Orthodox families, which essentially forced many of them to venture out into the job market, ultimately changing the face of the Israeli economy.
No obstacles in his path
Now Netanyahu has a real chance. This time round, he has no (former center-left politician and government minister) Tzipi Livni, Yair Lapid, (former minister of finance) Moshe Kahlon or Benny Gantz to stop him. He has a solid majority of 64, he will be able to operate in the most supportive environment he could have wished for, he will receive a warm welcome and considerable backing from a highly seasoned politician, head of the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party Shas Aryeh Deri, along with political partners such as Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Moshe Gafni and Yitzhak Goldknopf.
Netanyahu's only problem might be within on his home patch, of all places – his Likud party. There are more than a handful of Likud MKs who can rightly be defined as "victims of the party primary elections", some of them are split up into different camps, and some who are not even prepared to speak to their closest friends. Other well-known and influential figures are angry at Netanyahu following various moves and interventions he initiated during the primaries, and they made a show of boycotting the election campaign, not taking part in the party effort.
If after the various jobs are dished out, some MKs remain embittered, this will fast turn into a tenure full of anonymous press briefings and criticism leveled at him. Should they get a sense of this indeed being Netanyahu's last term of office and the succession battle does officially begin in earnest – then Netanyahu will face a genuine uphill battle.
Until that occurs, Netanyahu can enjoy the advantage of a level playing field, while everything genuinely appears to have fallen into place for him. He should have four years lined up in which he will be able to implement all his plans, uninterrupted. Netanyahu too knows that this time he must succeed, as he will be highly unlikely to have another bite at the cherry.
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