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King Bibi may have lost power, but Bibism is still a force to be reckoned with. Internally, Netanyahu was known to pin one group against another, elusively orchestrating political chess-moves that kept him in the seat of power time and time again. His foreign policy was similar. Over his time as Israeli Prime Minister – almost for a quarter century – Bibi’s foreign policy can be summarized by his knack in pointing a mirror image of himself to the Israeli people and enabling them to humbly celebrate the great Binyamin Netanyahu.
It was an inevitable pattern. First, something bad happened to Israel; be it an Israeli drug user was detained by Russian authorities in Moscow, or an American president publicly condemning Israeli aggression in Gaza. And before you knew it, he pulled a rabbit out of the hat and poof, the problem was no longer relevant. The most relevant evidence being the Abraham Accords – engineered solely by King Bibi. Not to mention, the life-saving vaccines that were personally orchestrated and brought by Bibi himself. Netanyahu repeatedly ignored any bureaucratic framework of governing, opting instead to scavenge for a cult of personality.
He was so relentlessly successful in doing this, that the main question in Israeli society was: ‘Who could possibly replace Bibi?”. Often this was repeated by a thoughtless comment generated by muscle memory, like ‘I cannot see anyone able to rule this country except him”, or ‘I cannot see anyone else protecting us from Iranian aggression’, or ‘I cannot see anyone able to argue so vehemently with Trump or Putin’. And this was, and still is, Bibi’s most distinguished trait – his ability to convince such a large amount of people that there is no one else remotely like him.
Now, after his departure from Balfour Street, Israeli foreign policy is slowly shaping into a bureaucratic enterprise. Yair Lapid has changed the ministry of foreign affairs into a ministry of foreign affairs. That is to say, he has met foreign ministers from close and far, deciding to put personality politics aside to accommodate the needs of his country. He has distanced Israel from Netanyahu-backed fearmongering nationalists such as Orban, Bolsonaro and Modi. Instead, he has adopted a centrist diplomatic temperament that neither provokes, nor shies away from key nations. His only distinct act being the attack on Poland for a new law that stop Jews from reclaiming wartime homes. Apart from that, the new government – with virtually no commanding trust from its citizens – cannot deviate so heavily from the previous Netanyahu government.
Benny Gantz’s recent meeting with Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah exemplifies this sentiment. Though he is the first Israeli Minister to meet the Palestinian President in 7 years, their conversation did not consist of anything helpful to the peace process. Nor did it mention peace, for that matter. And it did not intend to; the new government has a purpose to manage, rather than solve, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Just like the previous Netanyahu government, it focuses primarily on Iran and keeping positive relations with Washington.
Bibism is very much alive. The country is accustomed to the egotistical, self-cheering leadership of a charismatic, thunderous individual – and this is not what the new government promises. Lapid himself continues to utter the mantra that his coalition government is here to tackle internal societal strife through working quietly and tirelessly for the people. He says that he wants Israeli citizens to know that ordinary, professional individuals are at work to make their lives better. This sentiment is admirable, yet preaches to the wrong choir.
Israeli people are actively involved in political life – whether they are conscious of this or not. Walk into a cab anywhere in Israel, and you will no doubt encounter a political remark or two. People want to know what victories they can celebrate, and Bibi was notoriously successful in supplying triumphs – especially in the international realm. Bibi’s cult of personality and mastering of the media was built for this purpose, Lapid and Bennett’s is not.
That is how Bibi revolutionized Israeli political life, and the way Israeli citizens view foreign policy on the whole. By continuously heralding his own actions, he has distorted perception of the role of the Prime Minister. Israeli people think they cannot live without him, when in actuality they can, and are. Life moves on without Netanyahu, whether Israelis accept it or not.
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