Israel is changing, and suddenly Binyamin Netanyahu looks vulnerable In August he appeared untouchable, but cracks are showing in the prime minister’s rightwing coalition. Can he reinvent himself? A few weeks is a long time in Israeli politics. In August, at the height of the Gaza war, prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s standing among Israelis was untouchable. Now, almost two months after the ceasefire, the talk in the Israeli media is about tensions within his crumbling rightwing coalition, early elections, and whether Netanyahu can reinvent himself politically. In private, Netanyahu has reportedly told allies he does not believe his coalition can survive more than a few months. In public, Netanyahu has been more bullish, telling guests at a surprise 65th birthday party that the last thing Israel needs is elections, a message he repeated to his cabinet on Wednesday. The question is whether his coalition partners – or even members of his own party – are listening. A number of polls conducted since the end of the war with Hamas in Gaza have suggested a slow and continuing realignment in Israeli party politics, whose largest beneficiary has been the abrasive hard-right economics minister and champion of the settler movement, Naftali Bennett. theguardian/world/2014/oct/23/israel-changing-binyamin-netanyahu-prime-minister-coalition
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 21:54:38 +0000
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