Any time something sounds too obvious, be suspicious.
That’s how I feel about incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stunning concessions to the extremist parties that helped him gather a majority coalition. Bibi’s no fool. He did what he had to do to regain his throne, but his concessions are so clearly damaging that one must assume something’s up.
How damaging? It’s hard to recall such unanimity across the Jewish world. Hardcore Israel supporters are ringing the alarm bells about Bibi’s looming coalition.
“I’ve been at the very hub of the relationship between world Jewry and Israel, professionally, for 30 years,” Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, a prominent supporter and defender of Israel, told JPost. “I have never been as anxious and as worried about that relationship as I am now. Never. Not even close. Nothing has come close.”
What is Hirsch and many others so agitated about? Bibi has caved to extremists on so many fronts it’s hard to know where to start.
From giving Itamar Ben Gvir authority over police to making Bezalel Smotrich “de facto PM” of the West Bank to allowing Haredi parties to impose religious dogmas to empowering a homophobic party, among many other concessions, Bibi seems to have set up a coalition of the dogmatics.
Put it this way, when your new Finance Minister, Smotrich, proudly suggests that religion and obeying God’s commandments should take precedence over capitalism, you know you’re in for a nasty ride.
Bibi, a modern and sophisticated secular Jew, hardly endorses any of this extremism, and he is surely aware of how badly all of this will play with Israel’s friends and allies, not to mention much of Israeli society. So what could he be thinking, besides the obvious point that he has little leverage in the short term if he wants to keep his coalition intact?
Well, here’s my theory: Bibi is a power and attention junkie who is deeply concerned about his legacy. His criminal trial is threatening to leave a permanent stain on that legacy. Only heroic actions during his last chapter in power can give him any chance to rescue that legacy.
Those heroic actions include stopping a nuclear Iran for good, bringing Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accords, and, not least, saving Israeli democracy.
That last point is not hyperbole. His new far-right partners are not Jeffersonian democrats. Bibi knows that if they’re not constrained, the democratic tremors will be felt far and wide. He also knows that one man, and only one man, has the power to constrain them and save Israel’s democracy. Guess who that is?
You have to figure that someone like Bibi, with his gigantic ego, must be quietly pleased to hear from people like Rabbi Hirsch that he’s the “last brick in the wall,” and that, after him, “it’s the deluge, if he doesn’t manage to stop it.”
As he prepares for this deluge, Bibi will be facing the challenges of his life. Besides dealing with security threats like Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Palestinian terrorism, while also navigating delicate relationships with Turkey, the EU, China, a wounded Russia and the Biden administration, perhaps his biggest challenge will be constraining his extremist partners and keeping his coalition together.
Extremists, by definition, find no pleasure in compromise. Their very personas and source of popularity are rooted in the drama of uncompromising ideals. Why would they risk disappointing their passionately loyal base to please their new boss?
As the savvy politician that he is, Bibi has been saying all the right things in interviews, reassuring us that ultimately he’s in charge and that he won’t let Israel’s democracy unravel.
All I can say is: I hope he’ll have some real leverage when he tries to moderate his partners, and that it won’t simply be the threat of another election. I hope, in other words, that he’s planning secret talks with opposition parties who might be willing to join his coalition for the good of the country. As unlikely as that may be, it could end up being his only option.
The storm is fast approaching, and one man is facing it. For his final act, Bibi, that Zionist lion who knows all about survival, is just where he wants to be.
