Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu entered politics with 4 main goals: preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state or returning any occupied lands, preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, transforming Israel into a capitalist state, and crushing the old establishment through what he called "the replacement of elites".
This is what Aluf Benn, editor-in-chief of Haaretz newspaper, began in an article in which he commented on Netanyahu's legacy, stressing that the most important condition for the latter to achieve these goals was to remain in power as long as possible.
Netanyahu, according to the writer, excelled in two qualities: quick perception and focus on the goal, but he did not present a comprehensive unified vision or great ideas that deserve to remain in the Israeli public consciousness after his departure. Rather, he was and still is a person who is limited to a specific task and neglects the rest of the tasks, as it appeared. Last year in the Corona virus crisis and the import of vaccines, according to the writer.
As for this case, what has Netanyahu achieved from his goals, and how important is that?
From Netanyahu's point of view, the result is clearly balanced in his favor, says the publishing director of Haaretz.
Since his return to power in December 2005, Israel has not ceded a single millimeter of land to the Palestinians or to Syria, and the Palestinian state is off the agenda, at a time when 4 Arab countries have signed peace treaties with Israel, and Iran has not been able to acquire a bomb Atomic, while Israel greatly improved its strategic capabilities and capitalism became the mainstream with the list of local billionaires growing every year, the old elite was not defeated but weakened.
Netanyahu, then, from his point of view, achieved his goals, and remained in power longer than any of his predecessors and in the last years of his rule, and he was in a special power and position, relying on the support of his friend, former US President Donald Trump, whose fall was bad news for Netanyahu.
But have the achievements he sees been good for Israel as well?
A question asked by the Ha'aretz writer to respond by saying: Netanyahu managed the conflict with the Palestinians at a low cost to Israel, and with fewer funerals for soldiers and victims of "terrorism" than his predecessors.
But he was afraid of upsetting the status quo, did not use his unique political power to de-escalate the conflict and seek a settlement with the Palestinians, and he passed on the problem about to explode to his successors, and this is a great missed opportunity, as there are no other Israeli leaders of his size who can push the public to accept the peace agreements of That would include giving up land and settlements, as the writer put it.
Netanyahu also committed to the status quo on the home front, according to the writer, who points out that Israel has witnessed, in the past decade, the rise of the demographic and political power of the Arab and Haredi communities, which affected politics and the economy as it did not affect anything else.
The writer believes that Netanyahu understands the numbers, and knows that, without the inclusion of minorities in the economy, Israel will not be able to grow and may collapse in the next generation.
But he points out that instead of using his public standing to encourage change in these societies, he avoided conflict in favor of buying calm through a political alliance with the Haredim and increasing funding for Arab communities, which the writer also considered an invaluable missed opportunity.
The article concluded that Netanyahu, throughout his career, has always addressed his right-wing religious base, and did not try to persuade left- and center-left voters to vote for Likud, a strategy that remained in his favour for years, until a right-wing rebellion emerged and dropped enough bricks to bring down the building.