The days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are busy for all of us. But few of us have ever packed more into packed more into Ten Days of Repentance than Benjamin Netanyahu did this year. The Israeli prime minister flew to the United States right after the Jewish New Year. He met last Monday with Twitter/X CEO Elon Musk for a head-spinning conversation about antisemitism, artificial intelligence, and Israel’s judicial reform debate. He then headed for the East Coast, where he addressed a session of the United Nations General Assembly. While he was in New York, he also met with President Joe Biden, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, and a passel of other international dignitaries, heads of state and Jewish community leaders. Then he returned to Israel just prior to the Day of Atonement.
Now that the dust has settled, what did we learn from Bibi’s whirlwind tour, given the range of domestic political, economic and international objectives that were the focus of his trip?
Now that the dust has settled, what did we learn from Bibi’s whirlwind tour, given the range of domestic political, economic and international objectives that were the focus of his trip?
The first lesson is that the judicial overhaul debate that has deeply divided Israel has also diminished Netanyahu on the world stage. Throughout his stay in this country, the Israeli leader seemed atypically on the defensive. His priorities with Biden were to reassure the American president that Israel was still committed to democracy and to secure the White House photo opportunity that was denied him on this visit. While he did devote time in his U.N. speech to the Iranian nuclear threat, he seemed much more interested in discussing less bellicose topics such as potential trade and transportation agreements. He also spent a noticeable (and atypical) amount of time talking about the prospect of peace with the Palestinians. He wrapped up with several minutes of discussion on artificial intelligence.
Netanyahu’s meeting with Musk was especially disconcerting, as it was clear that the Israeli prime minister was not comfortable pressing the technology billionaire to denounce antisemitism or make it more difficult to post bigoted statements on his social media platform. It’s difficult to imagine Netanyahu tip-toeing through such a delicate but existential discussion with Bill Gates or Steve Jobs during their heydays: he would have pushed them as hard as he could to get them to back down from unacceptable rhetoric or company policy. (Although it’s just as difficult to imagine either Gates or Jobs conducting themselves as Musk has.)
Netanyahu was deferential to Musk for the same reason that he worked so hard to reassure Biden about his commitment to Israeli democracy and that he emphasized Palestinian peace at such length in his UN address. Right now, he needs Musk and Biden (and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman) more than they need him, and so he came to the U.S. on bended knee to offer reassurances that he would toe the line for them moving forward.
Those who oppose Netanyahu’s judicial reform are now out for blood. His suggestions for possible compromise have fallen on deaf ears: His foes see this controversy as a way to get rid of him once and for all. So if Bibi is going to climb back to his former level of prominence and influence, he’ll do it by relying on the issues that have been his hallmark from the beginning: Israel’s economy and security. Which means that he needs a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia — which will also require improved Israel-U.S. relations to become a reality — and establishing the Jewish state as a center for artificial intelligence as it has been for previous generations of digital technology.
Those are the types of accomplishments that have been the linchpins of Netanyahu’s past successes and could pave a path for him toward the type of legacy that he craves. Though he returned home without any deals in hand, there are already signs that his trip brought him significant benefit with Israeli voters. Even in a weakened state, Israelis once again saw the prime minister they elected, and watching him ply his trade on the world stage is a reminder of why they once thought so highly of him.
Dan Schnur is the U.S. Politics Editor for the Jewish Journal. He teaches courses in politics, communications, and leadership at UC Berkeley, USC and Pepperdine. He hosts the monthly webinar “The Dan Schnur Political Report” for the Los Angeles World Affairs Council & Town Hall. Follow Dan’s work at www.danschnurpolitics.com
