Another chance for Netanyahu to strut on world stage - analysis

Netanyahu managed to pull off an impressive political feat by getting both US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to campaign for him.

By HERB KEINON
A LIKUD CAMPAIGN poster in Jerusalem featuring the Trump- Netanyahu bond. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
A LIKUD CAMPAIGN poster in Jerusalem featuring the Trump- Netanyahu bond.
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Even though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was unable to form a government after winning the first round of elections in April, he did manage to pull off an impressive political feat by getting both US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to campaign for him.
No, they didn’t come out and say, “Vote Bibi.”
Rather, they invited Netanyahu to their capitals just prior to the election, and gave him something they knew would go over very well with the Israeli public.
Trump recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, on March 25, just two weeks before the April 9 elections, and Putin ceremoniously welcomed Netanyahu to Moscow on April 4, just days after Russia facilitated the return to Israel from Syria of the remains of Sgt.-Maj. Zachary Baumel, who went missing 37 years earlier in a tank battle during the Lebanon War.
Both moves sent a signal: we like Netanyahu, we can work with him, we want him.
Netanyahu was unable to extract the same support from the two leaders before the September elections. Yet the Likud is hoping that the visit this week to Jerusalem – of no less than 46 presidents, princes, vice presidents and prime ministers – to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, can give Netanyahu some kind of boost in the current election campaign, just getting under way.
Will it matter to the general public that Netanyahu is shaking hands with Britain’s Prince Charles, or chit-chatting with US Vice President Mike Pence? Will anyone really care that he will have a photo op with Belgium’s King Philippe, or French President Emmanuel Macron?
Probably not that much.
The one gesture, however, that could have some impact, would be if Putin would either bring with him, or announce while here, the release of Naama Issachar, arrested and sentenced in Russia to seven and a half years for possession of cannabis. This would underline Netanyahu’s sway with Putin, something that, one might imagine, could have an impact on the voters, and perhaps leave some of them with the feeling: “Look what our prime minister can accomplish.”
But none of this should be overstated.
In the April elections, Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc won 60 seats, the center-left won 55, and Avigdor Liberman, who does not fit into any category, won five. In the September vote, the Right won 55, the center-left won 57, and Liberman took eight. The polls are showing that the result this time will not be significantly different from what they were in September.
In other words, it’s not as if there are 35,868 people – the number of voters needed in the last election for one Knesset seat – who will decide to jump from the center-left wing bloc to the Right, because Netanyahu this week will literally be meeting and greeting dozens of heads of state.
What this week’s event – which has been in the works for months and just coincidentally is falling in the midst of yet another election – might do, is strengthen the resolve of those in Netanyahu’s bloc who, because of the unceasing background noise of indictments and immunity and bribes and breach of trust and fraud, may be saying to themselves: “Enough is enough, it’s time for Netanyahu to leave the stage.”
Then along comes Putin and Pence and Prince Charles and Macron, with Netanyahu flitting between them all, strutting in the spotlight as he knows how to, exuding confidence and strength, and giving a speech at the central event, that will assuredly have messages of rebirth from the ashes, which will resonate strongly with the Israeli public.
And what that all might do – rather than having an impact on people who had not thought of voting for Netanyahu in the first place – is solidify those in Netanyahu’s camp who may be experiencing “Bibi fatigue.” The images of Netanyahu with the world leaders, the Likud hopes, might induce some to say, “Look what we have on the world stage, do we want to lose that because of these indictments?”
Rather than convincing the unconverted, this week could prove important for Netanyahu, because it will allow him to highlight what he is good at, thereby strengthening some of those in his camp wavering in their support.