The deal was never completed. With this trial unfolding at a glacial pace, Netanyahu is planning his return amid a political crisis that has shaken the ruling coalition that toppled him last year. In early April, a lawmaker from Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s own party joined the opposition, ousting the coalition’s parliamentary majority. Netanyahu has promised that other such apostates are approaching. Netanyahu has returned to full force in public life and on social media, where he has repeatedly attacked Bennett for being “weak” in terms of security and for “cheating” on his way to power. For the first time since being replaced, the former prime minister addressed thousands of supporters at a right-wing rally in Jerusalem this month in serenades by “Bibi, King of Israel”. “We should not wait for the next terrorist attack or the next shooting,” Netanyahu said this week, referring to a recent wave of Palestinian attacks on Israeli cities. “We must immediately form a strong right-wing government under my leadership to restore security and peace.” After 12 consecutive years as prime minister – and a total of 15 dating back to the 1990s – Netanyahu, 72, remains the country’s most popular politician, surpassing Bennett as well as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. Netanyahu’s Likud party also leads in all polls. Netanyahu has made a comeback in the past, regaining power in 2009 after a decade spent largely in the political desert. Benjamin Netanyahu, right, speaks to his lawyer before a corruption trial © Reuven Castro / Pool / AFP / Getty Images However, most analysts and pollsters remain skeptical that he can now succeed where he failed four times in successive elections between 2019 and 2021: winning an absolute parliamentary majority. After a fourth, largely ineffective vote last year, Bennett formed an eight-party coalition of right-wing religious nationalists, left-wing peace activists, centrists and an independent Arab-Israeli Islamist party. Almost the only thing they agreed on was the need to replace Netanyahu – a violation that Netanyahu’s supporters have not forgiven. “Much of Netanyahu’s base really believes that it was unjustly repelled by an elite fave that manipulated various state institutions, such as the judiciary, in order to trample on the true will of the people,” said Dalia Seidlin, a political strategist. “They also believe that it is dangerous for the country if the right does not lead.” Pointing to the recent Palestinian attacks, Netanyahu said “when terror smells of weakness, it raises its head.” (Bennett and most other military analysts reacted to the fact that there were far worse security crises under Netanyahu.) Nearly two years after its official opening, the trial on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust is still in the middle of the testimony of witnesses in the first of three cases. Netanyahu maintained his innocence, claiming a huge conspiracy of the “deep left state”. Netanyahu has done his best to cultivate this sense of shared victimization, according to Scheindlin, especially among historically marginalized sections of Israeli society, such as religious observers and Mizrachi Jews of Middle Eastern descent. “It’s a cult of personality, but not a cult,” Scheindlin added. “Netanyahu enchants people and plays fast and relaxed with the truth.” Bennett has accused Netanyahu of spreading “false news and lies” and of sending “the whole machine” and “army” of cyber-trolls and media outlets to attack him. The prime minister also claimed that Netanyahu’s proxies had “inhumane” pressure on renegade party member Idit Silman and her family – including harassment at her children’s school – which eventually led to her “cave”. This week a live bullet was posted at Bennett’s wife’s workplace, threatening her and their children, as well as directly to their teenage son. Police and the Internal Security Service have launched an investigation. Despite the loss of the parliamentary majority in the ruling coalition, even Likud officials admit that Netanyahu does not have an alternative government in his hands. The best we can hope for, according to former Likud minister Jaci Hanegby, is to implement several more dissidents and dissolve parliament, leading to early elections. “The position of the ‘just not Bibi’ coalition will probably not change,” Hanegby said. Likud ruled out replacing Netanyahu, which could theoretically pave the way for a return to power by persuading other parties to join it in a coalition. Julie Edelstein, the former speaker of parliament, has said she will challenge Netanyahu in any future confrontation over Likud leadership. But most polls suggest he loses to Netanyahu in a showdown. “It is not in Likud’s DNA to replace his leaders, who have all resigned, and we will not be instructed on who leads us anyway,” Hanegby added. “Netanyahu enjoys very broad popular support, he wants to stay, he has the energy and he does not let go [his opponents] break his spirit “. According to pollster Rafi Smith, who worked with Netanyahu on his recent campaigns, voter confidence in Netanyahu-led Likud in any upcoming election remains “extremely high.” “There is a strong connection [that these voters] “They have in him the feeling that Likud is their home and Netanyahu is their leader,” Smith said. However, Smith, like other pollsters, failed to see anything substantially change if Netanyahu manages to force another election. In the April 2021 vote, Netanyahu and his “bloc” of far-right and ultra-orthodox parties abstained by about 70,000 votes to win an absolute parliamentary majority of more than 4 million votes. Netanyahu “probably feels he can get closer to it again, that he can do a better campaign and with a little push” to win the majority, Smith said. “But he is not there at the moment.”
