His devotees call him “The Magician”, “The Winner” and — the ultimate accolade — melekh yisrael, “King of Israel”.
Benjamin Netanyahu is Israel’s most gifted politician in a generation. He is his country’s second-longest-serving prime minister and, if he wins his fifth election on April 9, may beat the record of the country’s founding father, David Ben Gurion.
“Bibi” is important beyond Israel, too, and not only because he speaks in perfect soundbites in Hebrew and English and stands tall in today’s chaotic Middle East. He matters because he embodied the politics of muscular nationalism, chauvinism and the resentment of elites long before such populism became a global force. Netanyahu counts among his friends and allies such nationalists as Donald Trump and Narendra Modi of India.
The reign of King Bibi is thus a parable of modern politics: the rise of a talented politician and a long success based on a perplexing mixture of carrying out sound policy and cynically sowing division. As his power is threatened, he has turned to railing more loudly against the free press, the judiciary and shadowy forces. Now Bibi faces his greatest danger, in the form of corruption charges. In a different age he would have had to resign, and would be defending himself as an ordinary citizen. But he is intent on remaining in office, and hopes that voters will yet save him from the policemen, prosecutors and judges. Israeli politics is turning into a contest between genuine achievement and demagoguery on one side and the rule of law on the other. All who care about democracy should watch closely.
Read the article in The Australian (from The Economist).