To an uninitiated onlooker, Israel seems like it’s on the verge of political catastrophe. Unable to form a coalition, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing multiple existential threats to his record breaking tenure. Israel is holding its third election in a calendar year, meaning the Knesset has not been properly in session for a year [1]. To make matters worse, Avigdor Liberman, the leader of the rightwing Yisrael Beiteinu (Israeli Home) Party, stated that he would prefer a government with the Arab Joint List Party in the majority than one led by Netanyahu aligned with haredi (ultra-orthodox) parties [2]. All of this comes as a three-year-old corruption probe investigating alleged improprieties between Netanyahu and the press ended in the worst possible outcome for him: indictment [3]. Without a clear majority in the Knesset, without a clean record of public service, without anything to do other than campaign, it seems as if the longest serving Israeli PM in its seventy-one year history is about to meet his political doom. 

The problem with that interpretation is that it ignores the long-term trends in Israeli politics that have defined the country ever since the Second Intifada. “Netanyahuism” is not necessarily an ideology per se, but rather it is a set of foreign policy principles centered on maintaining a strategic Israeli presence in the West Bank, using limited but decisive military action against Hamas and Hezbollah, and the active containment of  Iran as the Islamic Republic expands its influence into Syria and Lebanon. By now, Netanyahu’s governing strategy (save the corruption) is practically a political donneé in Israel. Blue and White (Kahol Lavan), led by general-turned-politician Benny Gantz, is the most credible political threat to Netanyahu’s Likud Party and has practically matched Likud’s popularity in the last two elections [4]. Many political observers dub this new party centrist or center left. But other than on social issues--and those should be de-emphasized when evaluating Netanyahu’s tenure--Blue and White mirrors Likud’s security stances. To understand how “Netanyahuism” has set in to Israeli’s politics, just look at the PM’s opponents.

One could be forgiven for mistaken Blue and White politicians for marginally more socially liberal Likudniks. Their party platform eschews further “disengagement” from Gaza and the West Bank (which Netanyahu famously quit the government over in 2005) [5]. They also seek to further diplomatic relations with Arab countries (which Netanyahu has aggressively lobbied for as PM) [6]. Blue and White’s Jerusalem and West Bank policy is also identical to Likud’s: they envision Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital and the Jordan Valley as Israel’s eastern security border. They even wish to normalize legal settlements on the western section of the West Bank, many of which are long-populated suburbs of Jerusalem that are experiencing a recent population increase due to their relative affordability. Most consequentially, Blue and White hasn’t even committed to a two state solution [7]. On economic policy, Netanyahu’s continuation of the transition from an agriculture and defense-based economy into a “startup nation” remains unquestioned in the public sphere, largely because it has delivered sustained growth [8]. Blue and White’s differences with Netanyahu primarily stem from their objections to his character. Most other disagreements arise because like Netanyahu, Gantz and his political cohort seek political power.