Netanyahu is the chairman of Lukid party in Knesset which is the Israeli parliament. He is the first Israeli Prime Minister born in Israel after the establishment of the state. He has also worked for Boston Consulting Group after getting his Bachelors’ and Masters’ degree in science from MIT. But, why are we talking about this political leader all of a sudden? No, it’s not all of a sudden. Israel had its election recently, and Netanyahu emerged victoriously and has taken onto his 5th term as a prime minister.
Usually, elections in Israel occur every four years. Netanyahu decided to dissolve this rule and decided to conduct elections one year early. Most important factors in this election are national security, corruption and economy. Elections are seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s personality which is marred by corruption. Defenders of Netanyahu tried saving him by making people remember about preventing Syrian civil war and deterring Hezbollah from launching a war against Israel, which was all done in Netanyahu’s tenure. Netanyahu declared himself as statesmen and have found a diplomatic relationship with US president- Donald Trump, Brazilian president-. Jair Bolsonaro and the Russian president- Vladimir Putin. The concern of Golan Heights, a place on the boundary of Israel and Syria has been perturbed for a long time. It was part of Syria until 1967. Deal with Syria would also lead to dismantling the Jewish settlements in the boundary. There had been wars between Israel and Syria for retaining Golan Heights in their respective countries because of its importance due to its strategic location and benefits. It was only a few weeks before the elections that Trump announced the Golan Heights as a part of Israel. Netanyahu’s credibility and popularity in Israel is due to the support he has been getting from Trump. So much so that the US took the decision of shifting the Israeli capital to Jerusalem. The US also withdrew itself from international nuclear deal curbing Iran’s nuclear program. He also has supported the LGBT communities of Israel, thereby demonstrating an open mind and way of thinking. He has got good relations with American Jews, too.
But, not everything is perfect as it seems to be. Netanyahu has been charged for alienation of Israel’s Arab minority. Netanyahu has also been alleged for corruption and bribery charges. Netanyahu’s three former close confidants have testified against him. Most damaging is where he is accused of peddling and favouring a telecom company. In return, Bezzec’s telecom company promoted him. Police claimed that he took 300,000 dollars of bribery over ten years. Palestinians also have fought a long war against Israel for the liberation of a separate nation. But, they have always been denied this request. Some time ago, they protested again, and 266 of them were killed. This happened during Netanyahu’s rule.
Benny Gantz, former army chief formed “Blue and White party” only two months before the election and still emerged as the most serious rival of Netanyahu. Gantz, son of a Holocaust survivor, comes from the farming community. He claimed to run Israel on better terms as his personality was clean, unlike that of Netanyahu. He challenged on cleaner politics and key issues of security. Gantz claimed to improve the socio-cultural condition in Israel, as the situation between Arabs and Jews is tense, and the security issues are also escalated. Due to corruption charges on Netanyahu, middle-class people don’t trust him anymore, and this has also led to economic tensions within the country. He also took the pledge of making the territorial concession towards Palestinians on their question of statehood.
But, at the end of elections, both the “Lukid” and “Blue and White” parties declared their victories. Both parties won 35 seats in 120 seated Knesset. However, Netanyahu won because of being in a better condition to form coalitions. Once again, the Israelis are divided into two sections- one who loves Netanyahu, and other who hates Netanyahu.
