Benjamin Netanyahu, the longest serving prime minister in Israel’s history, sees protecting his country from its enemies as his life’s mission.
And now he’s excited about a return to power. “Today we received an incredible show of support. We are on the verge of a great victory,” the Likud leader told militants and supporters at his party headquarters in Jerusalem, as election results showed he was getting closer to the majority. absolute in Parliament, with the support of its far-right allies.
In the campaign for this election, the fifth in three and a half years, everyone agreed on one point about Netanyahu: his tireless energy in the service of an intact will to rule.
At 73, this man as much adored as hated he toured the country with the “Bibimóvil”, a fully glazed and protected truck, inspired by the Pope’s vehicle.
For the first time since 2009, Netanyahu would not compete as outgoing prime minister, as he was ousted from power in June 2021 by a motley coalition.
But “Bibi” will never retire from politics by her own decision, says Aviv Bushinsky, her former spokesman and a great connoisseur of Likud, the right-wing party that garnered the most votes in Tuesday’s elections.
“He will do everything he can to form a coalition, even the craziest things,” Bushinsky told AFP. “He thinks he has received a mission from God to save the country,” he adds.
Despite allegations of corruption in a number of court cases – allegations he denies – the former prime minister has the unwavering support of his staunchest supporters.
With his unmistakable hoarse voice, his graying hair always impeccably groomed, Netanyahu is deeply marked by the legacy of the Israeli right.
family influences
Born in Tel Aviv on October 21, 1949, he grew up with the strong ideological background of his father, Benzion, who was the personal assistant of Zeev Jabotinsky, leader of the so-called “revisionist” Zionist trend, in favor of a “Greater Israel” that also embraces the Jordan.
Opposing the Oslo peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, which he himself helped bury, Netanyahu supports a vision of Israel as a “Jewish state”, whose borders extend to Jordan.
In this sense, supports the annexation of areas of the occupied West Bank and its measures favored an increase in colonies.
In the 1970s, after the Six Day War (1967), the young Benjamin did his military service in an elite commando.
But it is mainly his older brother, Yoni, who stands out in the army. His death in 1976, during the Israeli assault to free hostages from a Tel Aviv-Paris flight, deeply touches Netanyahu, who will make the “fight against terrorism” one of the main themes of his career.
Despite keeping his harsh statements against Palestinian leaders, Netanyahu defended the recent normalization of relations with Arab countries (United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco).
A born speaker, Netanyahu is also a career diplomat. He lived in the United States, where he studied and was an ambassador to the United Nations in the 1980s.
Upon his return to Israel, he was elected a deputy in 1988 for the Likud party, the great formation of the Israeli right, of which he soon became the new star.
His rise was unstoppable until 1996 when, at the age of 46, became the youngest prime minister in Israel’s history. But his rule lasted only three years.
After being away for some time, he returned to his great passion, politics, re-led Likud and was re-elected Prime Minister in 2009 until 2021.
“Soldier, I have fought to defend Israel on the battlefield. Diplomat, I have repelled attacks on its legitimacy in international forums. Minister of Finance and Prime Minister, I have tried to strengthen its economic and political power among nations,” he wrote. recently Netanyahu in his biography. published.
In it, he adds that he has also helped “secure the future of his elders”.
Source: AFP
CB
Source: Clarin
