Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who won an unexpected victory in Israel’s November 1 parliamentary elections, is set to return to power. In the 120-seat Knesset, Netanyahu’s Likud party won 32 of its seats and 64 including its allies. With this, Israel’s recent electoral streak came to a temporary halt. After the elections held in April and September 2019, then in March 2020 and finally in March 2021, the governments that came to power soon resigned after not obtaining a majority. Disagreements ultimately reduced the membership to 59 in April and a joint deal dissolved the Knesset in June, with Yair Lapid remaining as interim prime minister. These elections took place later.
Netanyahu, considered the pivot of Israeli politics, won a fairly good majority with solid support from conservative and right-wing groups. In his long political career spanning the 1990s, he became prime minister in 1996, the first prime minister born after the creation of the state of Israel. Netanyahu was the youngest Prime Minister in the country. He also holds the title of longest-serving prime minister with the new position. Power wasn’t always safe. Although often mired in serious corruption allegations, even his opponents will admit that Netanyahu has the skills to survive all of this and reach new positions. Wana has served as Prime Minister three times on several fronts since 1996 and only this time is getting some better support.
It is true that the world pays attention to Israeli prime ministers only when it comes to foreign policy. Half of their domestic politics concerns relations with the Arabs of the world. One fifth of the country’s population is Arab. Even those who believe the country will be more stable, secure and progressive under Netanyahu do not expect any sympathetic change of attitude on the issue of Arab lands occupied by Israel. There is often no chance of it becoming more intense.
The external threats that Israel often cites as the cause of excessive militarization do not exist today. Iran today is more concerned about internal affairs. In foreign relations, the main issue behind them is to revive the nuclear deal signed by the US and the European Union in 2015 after Donald Trump canceled it – due to the sanctions that exist in his name. Israel has peace agreements with neighboring Egypt and Jordan that are almost seamless. Between the Arab states themselves, there are normal relations with the UAE and Bahrain under the peace treaty in the American testimony called the Abraham Agreement. More with Morocco and Sudan. The Abraham Accords are generally a program for establishing normal relationships by accepting small concessions on the land acquisition issue.
But what about Netanyahu’s new approach to the Arabs in Israel and the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, which are the autonomous regions of Palestine? Will the same old pattern of bloody internal protests continue by shooting and bombing? Netanyahu’s is not the way to peace in the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is very likely that other construction works will be carried out which will strengthen Israel’s presence in the region occupied by the Arabs. While Jerusalem is recognized as the capital of Israel by multiple countries, international interest in making East Jerusalem the capital of a proposed Palestinian state is blocked. With allies who do not in principle accept the existence of two independent states in the region, the prospects for peace will fade again. In short, Netanyahu’s rise to power does not bode well for peace in West Asia.
