Geopolitics and Markets Review – 4th December 2023

Israeli Internal Politics - The Role of Benjamin Netanyahu

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Who Is Netanyahu

3. Netanyahu and Middle Eastern Geopolitics

4. Israel's Unstable Politics Of The 2010s and 2020s

5. Concluding Remarks

---

Bitesize Edition

• Benjamin Netanyahu spent his childhood bouncing between Israel and the United States. During the 1980s, he built political connections and utilized his English language fluency to rise in Israeli politics.

• Netanyahu is currently in his sixth term as Israeli Prime Minister. He often aligns with a right-wing approach to Israeli politics, and this is reflected in his often aggressive actions towards Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, such as the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

• In 2019, Netanyahu had a corruption allegation sent his way. This has had ramifications for the entire Israeli political system, sprouting instability since the 2019 allegations.

• To cling onto power in a political system where many parties refuse to back him as leader of Likud, Netanyahu has to form coalitions with Haredi Jewish and Religious Zionist parties, known for existing on the far right of the political scale. Hence arises the question: When will Netanyahu run out of road on the political scale?

---

Introduction

In the current Israel-Hamas conflict, one of the key characters in the spotlight has been Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Today we’ll explore who Benjamin Netanyahu is, his political stances, and beliefs, and how this has soured opinions towards him over many decades.

---

Who Is Netanyahu

Netanyahu’s mother was Israeli-born, and his father a Jew from Poland, both secular Jews. Netanyahu has adopted this same policy towards Judaism. His father changed his name to Benzion Netanyahu upon settling in Palestine.

Benjamin Netanyahu was born in Jaffa in 1949, raised in Jerusalem, and went to high school in the United States due to his Father’s work as a professor at Dropsie College in Pennsylvania. After attending and graduating high school, Netanyahu was said to be unsatisfied in the United States, specifically the Reform synagogue his family attended. Reform Judaism is a branch of Judaism that reinforces the evolving nature of Judaism. It is less traditional, and individuals are considered malleable to modern external influence and values.

Netanyahu could have been influenced by his father’s stance as a “Revisionist Zionist”. This form of Zionism supports the expansion of a Jewish majority on both sides of the Jordan River. It also opposes the Labour Zionism movement of David Ben-Gurion, the left-wing, socialist branch of Zionism.

Photo by D A V I D S O N L U N A on Unsplash

Netanyahu decided to return to Israel upon graduation to join the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). He joined in 1967 and served in many well-known Israeli conflicts. He partook in the Battle of Karameh, pitting the Israelis against the PLO and Jordanian Forces. He also served as a captain in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

After a return to education in the United States, Netanyahu worked as an economic consultant in Boston between 1976 and 1978, before finally returning to Israel yet again.

His first role was at the NGO, “Johnathan Netanyahu Anti-Terror Institute”, before moving on to become a marketing director. However, the most important moves in Netanyahu’s life during this period were the relationships he built with politicians. Netanyahu’s moves to build political relationships paid off, as Moshe Arens, ambassador to the United States (1982-1984), appointed him Deputy Chief in Mission at the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC.

Before his leadership role in the Israeli government, he was also the Israeli ambassador to the UN from 1984 until 1988. He joined the Likud Party in 1988 and sharply rose to the leadership role in 1993. During this period, Netanyahu became a spokesperson of sorts for Israel due to his fluent English-speaking skills.

Netanyahu was in office as Prime Minister from 1996-1999 and from March 2009 to June 2021. He was re-elected in December 2022 and remains the leader today. Upon his first rise to office, he was the youngest person in history to become Israeli Prime Minister and the first Israeli born since the founding of the state in 1948. How did the hopes of the youngest Israeli Prime Minister in history sour opinions towards Netanyahu?