As the state of Israel approaches its 75th birthday this spring, the festivities will likely be overshadowed by nasty infighting within its right-wing coalition, not to mention heated opposition from the Jewish and Israeli mainstream. In the midst of these confrontations, incoming Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu will be solely responsible for containing the damage he himself has created by making divisive agreements with extremist parties.
Bibi made these agreements because he needs these extremist parties to secure his majority coalition and regain his position on top of Israeli politics. Did he pay too high a price for regaining that power? That will depend on how well he can tame the tiger he’s unleashed.
One reason Bibi’s been on top for so long is that he’s a brilliant and ruthless politician. He knows how to get power and keep it, even if it means walking back on agreements. The Israeli political landscape is littered with politicians who have been hoodwinked by Netanyahu.
As much as I’ve never liked that part of Bibi, I must confess that, right now, I’m rooting hard for that version of Netanyahu—you know, the Bibi who can deftly disentangle himself from agreements and promises.
I’m rooting, in other words, for Houdini Bibi.
Houdini Bibi knows the value of maintaining good relations with Israel’s #1 ally. He knows that the extremist positions he’s been forced to accommodate during coalition negotiations will undermine Israel’s standing with the Diaspora and the West, as well as his own legacy.
As a secular Jew himself who puts pragmatism ahead of ideology, he also knows that the great majority of Jews don’t support extremism of any kind. Notwithstanding his reassurances that he’s got “both hands on the wheel,” he’s aware that Jews around the world are alarmed by the deals he’s made with his extremist partners.
To recap, here’s a quick rundown of these agreements from the Times of Israel:
“[Bibi’s Likud] has coalition agreements with Otzma Yehudit that will see far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben Gvir appointed national security minister with an expanded portfolio that covers the national police force and the Border Police’s West Bank division; Religious Zionism far-right leader Bezalel Smotrich will become finance minister, empowered with far-reaching powers over civil policy in the West Bank; and Avi Maoz, of the Noam party, which espouses homophobic views and policies, is slated to take control over an Education Ministry unit in charge of approving external educational vendors, who play a critical role in public school programming.”
On the religious front:
“Ultra-Orthodox coalition partner Shas will retake control of the Religious Services Ministry, which will play a role in appointing the state’s next chief rabbis, as well as give it a chance to quickly roll back a rabbinic court appointment reform program implemented by former minister and liberal Orthodox Jew Matan Kahana.
“The party will also gain control over municipal community centers. This move is both in line with the party’s focus on serving underprivileged and rural populations, as well as providing a vehicle to implement traditional Jewish and religious programming in community centers, according to Shas party sources.
“United Torah Judaism, led by Knesset newcomer Yitzhak Goldknopf, has made a host of demands to firm up Orthodox control over religious matters and exert religious oversight on secular matters.
“Various proposals have included stopping energy generation on Shabbat and expanding gender-segregated beaches, both of which Netanyahu has publicly nixed; increasing stipends for religious study; including a Chief Rabbinate representative on any panel weighing permits for work on Shabbat; forming and funding bodies to provide answers to the public on questions of Jewish law; allowing hospitals to ban hametz, or leavened wheat products, on Passover; requiring more religious studies in the state’s secular school system; and weighing the closure of the new Reform department in the Diaspora Affairs Ministry.”
Get the picture? This is extremist gluttony from ideologues who couldn’t care less about the concerns of Israel’s mainstream, let alone Israel’s relations with the Diaspora or the Biden Administration.
Bibi knows all this. He knows he’s agreed to things he must walk back. Maybe he’s done this so often in the past he assumes he can do it again.
The problem is that these extremist partners are not suckers. They know Bibi’s tricks. They don’t trust him, which is why they’ve insisted on maximum clarity in the agreements. If they don’t get what they want, they can always threaten to leave the coalition and Bibi loses his majority. Immoveable object versus irresistible force. At the very least, we are guaranteed high drama over the next few weeks and months.
Expect a lot of bureaucratic finagling to buy time—like the setting up of committees to study this or that extremist idea. Expect also an effort by Houdini Bibi to rise above the fray and raise the stakes. We’re already seeing this by the leak of a classic Bibi ploy—agree not to annex disputed territory (a key demand of extremist partners) in return for Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords.
In the end, though, Houdini Bibi won’t be able to pull his magic unless he can show his extremist partners that he can do without them. And that can only happen if he can convince centrist parties who can’t stand him to join his coalition. As difficult as that sounds, it’s probably not as difficult as getting uncompromising ideologues to compromise.
The real drama will start when Bibi concludes that it’s impossible to govern with extremist partners. That’s when we’ll see if Houdini Bibi still has a few tricks up his sleeve.
