Binyamin Netanyahu had never been happy to promise Benny Gantz his job as prime minister as part of the rotating agreement that secured his own continued rule and Gantz a role as defence minister. And Gantz was unwise, as he was warned at the time – Leo Varadkar please note – to take Israel’s longest serving prime minister’s promise to vacate at face value. Personal interventionNetanyahu has struggled to expand his campaign beyond the pandemic issue though his personal intervention to secure supplies from the CEO of Pfizer has helped. A hamfisted attempt by him to overplay Israel’s recent rapprochement with the UAE has backfired because the emirates objected to being used as pawns in a local political campaign. And so, to the distress of their friends and allies around the world, once again an Israeli election will unroll in which the plight of the Palestinians is almost entirely sidelined.

Source: The Irish Times March 22, 2021 00:00 UTC