Drowning Benjamin Netanyahu pulls Israel under
Netanyahu wasted no time implementing the small-L liberalising economic principles he learned at the prestigious Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. State-run companies were privatised and foreign exchange controls were abolished. Lower taxes and entrepreneurial incentives fostered a hardware and software start-up culture second to none in the world.
These same pro-business policies have facilitated the emergence of Israel as a major energy exporter. With 15 trillion cubic metres of natural gas reserves found on and offshore, Israel has begun to supply Egypt and Jordan with sorely needed fuel for their electric power grids. Negotiations are under way for the construction of a trans-Mediterranean pipeline that will export Israeli natural gas to Europe.
From cutting-edge medical therapies to sophisticated desalination and drip-irrigation technology, Israel has emerged as a global centre of scientific and engineering innovation. As a result the Jewish state has catapulted into the first rank of the world’s economies, with a 2019 GDP per capita of $US42,820 ($63,762), greater than that of France ($US42,640) or Britain ($US40,390).
Israel’s geostrategic position also has gone from strength to strength on Netanyahu’s watch. Most noteworthy is the rapprochement that has taken place between the Jewish and Gulf Arab states as a counterweight to Iranian belligerence.
In 2018, Netanyahu travelled to the sultanate of Oman and the King of Bahrain declared that Bahraini citizens were now free to visit Israel. Netanyahu also demonstrated considerable courage of conviction by taking an unapologetic public stand against the oikophobia foreign policy of US president Barak Obama.
Yet for all his undeniable achievements, it is also a reality that Netanyahu’s tenure in office has been sullied by serious allegations of corruption. Some of this ethical malodour emanates from his wife, Sara, a boorish harridan who pleaded guilty to misappropriating $100,000 worth of catering funds at the prime minister’s official residence.
But this penchant for lavish living also has generated criminal charges against her husband himself. He stands accused of accepting $200,000 worth of champagne, gourmet cigars and jewellery in exchange for assistance with the business dealings of billionaire Arnon Milchan. Indictments also have been filed against Netanyahu for fraud and bribery over convoluted schemes to garner favourable media coverage by providing newspapers with preferential treatment from government regulators.
These lurid episodes of venality have wrought serious damage to Netanyahu’s public standing that can be quantified at the ballot box. On March 2, Israel will be conducting its third general election within the space of a single year, after Netanyahu failed to assemble a governing coalition from two previous ballots, in April and September last year. If public opinion polling is to be believed, the outcome of next month’s election will be more of the same.
The calculus of democratic politics is brutal in its simplicity. Netanyahu has proven unable to deliver the electoral goods. Yet he clings to power, motivated by a combination of arrogance and desperation to avoid a prison cell with his name on it.
It’s bad enough that Netanyahu’s obstinate refusal to resign is jeopardising the likelihood of continued conservative government in Jerusalem. But as he flails about like a drowning man seeking salvation, he is also inflicting grave injury on the foundations of Israel’s democracy.
A pillar of that democracy is a judicial system that has demonstrated integrity by bringing the highest in the land — including a president and prime minister — to the bar of justice without fear or favour. Yet Netanyahu and his political allies have shown no compunction about waging a scurrilous campaign of ad hominem attacks against Israel’s Attorney-General. The diehard reservoir of support for Netanyahu within the Likud party has begun to take on the characteristics of a personality cult.
But in a genuine democracy there’s no such thing as an indispensable man or woman. From former Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat to long-time frontbencher Gideon Sa’ar, the ranks of Likud are overflowing with political talent. It’s time for Netanyahu to go. Whether to a gilded retirement or a prison cell, it doesn’t really matter. But for the sake of Israel’s democratic institutions and conservative government he should realise that his use-by date has come and gone.
Ted Lapkin is a government relations strategist and former ministerial adviser in the Abbott government.
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The achievements of Benjamin Netanyahu across his political career have been considerable. He deserves substantial credit for the flourishing of Israel into the high-technology powerhouse it is today. When Netanyahu first became prime minister, in 1996, he inherited an economy hobbled by onerous taxation and bloated regulatory policies that were the socialist legacy of the Israeli Labour Party’s 30 years in power.