WhatsappIt has often been noted that Prime Minister Netanyahu has no real rival Israeli politics. He is almost like the forever PM. His political skills having no equal, he appears to be able to be PM as long as he wants.
While this may appear to be true, there is one threat that not even Bibi can handle – a collapsing economy. True there needs to be a capable challenger to Netanyahu’s control and while there doesn’t appear to be one yet, there is still far further the economy can fall too, unless there is a real turnaround.
Part of the challenge Netanyahu has right now is that his opposition in the Knesset is really being led by Naftali Bennett (ignore Lapid) who is rightwing and credited by the public for Israel’s success during Corona’s first wave. While Likud is beginning to slide in the polls, Bennett’s party is rising.
I do not believe Bennett will over take Netanyahu, but the important thing to take from this is that Netanyahu is vulnerable – very vulnerable to more and more Israelis – rightwing, leftwing, religious, and secular finally deciding that a new path is necessary after the carnage of the Coronavirus.
One only has to look at Golda Meir’s failure during the Yom Kippur War that led to a pivot from Labor to Likud. With the leisure and tourism part of Israel’s economy legitimately in disarray due to coronavirus, Netanyahu may see himself facing the same historic demise as Golda Meir. The only question is: who will Israel turn to next?
