Bibi fights to the end:

A new Israeli government can be sworn in as early as Wednesday, reports Haaretz. The only thing left is for the new governing coalition to get a vote of confidence in the Knesset, which is Israel’s National Assembly.

Yet no one yet dares to write off 71-year-old Benjamin Netanyahu, the master of the art of political survival. Or King Bibi, as he is often called.

An entire chapter

Right now, Netanyahu is doing everything he can to sabotage the election of the new government. “Netanyahu is still prime minister for a few more days, until the vote of confidence, and he will fight all the way (..). This is still far from over “, writes Anshel Pfeffer, journalist at Haaretz and Economist and author of a book about Netanyahu.

He is joined by several Israeli experts.

“No rational political enemy of Benjamin Netanyahu can underestimate his ruthlessness and determination to continue as boss. Until a new government with a new prime minister is sworn in, he will do everything to stop it “, writes Jeremy Bowen, BBC Middle East editor.

Sunday goes Haaretz and other Israeli media still far in presenting the man who can take over the prime minister’s chair, Naftali Bennett. There are many indications that Netanyahu’s record number of prime minister days will soon be numbered.

“He is not a footnote, but an entire chapter in the history of Israel, because he has changed the face of the land. His greatest achievement, a terrible one, is that he has completely removed the Palestinian cause from the agenda. In Israel and in the world. Game over », writes the Haaretz commentator Gideon Levy.

Why is everyone so mean to me?

Mr reassures Israel

The 71-year-old is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister – and the first prime minister to be charged with “fraud, corruption and abuse of trust” while still the country’s prime minister.

Despite corruption charges: Time and time again, Netanyahu has managed to get the most representatives into the Knesset in elections. At the latest in March, he was again given the task of forming a government, but did not succeed.

Much of the reason he has managed to stay in power for so long is that he has managed to convince most Israelis that he is the person who ensures security for Israel in the Middle East.

– Super-human

Netanyahu was born in Tel Aviv in 1949. The family eventually moved to the United States, before Bibi returned to Israel as an 18-year-old where he was captain of an elite unit in the military, and participated in several wars, which gives great credibility in Israel. Then he returned to the United States to study. In 1984, Netanyahu became Israel’s UN Ambassador.

In 1988, he returned to Israel, and began his political career by being elected to the Knesset for the right-wing Likud party. In 1996, he became prime minister following an early election due to the execution of then-leader Yitzhak Rabin.

Netanyahu quickly established himself as an exceptionally talented demagogue. Charismatic, eloquent and ruthless are adjectives that recur.

“I have been following the almost super-human phenomenon of Prime Minister Netanyahu. He works almost non-stop on behalf of Israel, from the time he wakes up until he goes to bed “, writes Aaron Klein, adviser to Netanyahu, in a boastful post in Newsweek.

Bibi’s poisonous arv

Loved by many, but also hated. Netanyahus toxic inheritance is the title of the post that Pfeffer recently wrote about Netanyahu. Pfeffer points out that Netanyahu inherited a bloody and seemingly eternal conflict between Jews and Palestinians. The Gaza blockade was already there when he came to power. So did Hamas.

“But in the last 12 years he has done everything to ensure that the hatred and suspicion on both sides has continued. It is Bibi’s legacy “, writes Pfeffer.

Economist points out that Netanyahu has led one of the world’s most successful covid-19 vaccination campaigns. He has concluded peace agreements with a number of Arab states and kept Israel safe. At the same time, the Economist points out that Netanyahu also “created enmity between the people and clung to power, even after he was charged with corruption.”

“If Netanyahu continues, he will drag Israelis to the polls for the fifth time since 2019. If he leaves, he can help heal Israel’s policies,” he wrote. Economist continue.

Neither the Messiah nor Satan

The commentary makes music in the possibly incoming Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s ear:

– Let go, let Israel move forward, is Bennett’s prayer to Netanyahu Sunday.

“Just surviving the attacks that Netanyahu is planning will be a full-time job. His opponents can only hope that his fall will continue in the courtroom in Jerusalem, where he is already charged with serious corruption charges “, writes BBCs Jeremy Bowen.

Doomed to fail

So what will be Netanyahu’s biggest political success when writing the history books?

Israel’s coronavirus vaccine campaign, believes Gideon Levy in Haaretz and points out that Israel is the country in the world that before everyone else has returned to an almost normal life.

– And Israelis take it for granted. It is almost tempting to say that he should have been given another term as prime minister. But – he is not the Messiah that his followers think he is. At the same time, he is not the terrible Satan that his opponents describe him as, concludes Gideon Levy.