In Israel Vote It’s Netanyahu vs. Alter Ego Bibi

The contest in Israel’s general election in April will likely be between a successful statesman named Benjamin Netanyahu and a failing, small-ball tactician named Bibi.On Monday, small-time Bibi asked Israeli press for a prime-time slot to make a “dramatic” statement. What aired was Bibi whining about the supposed unfairness of various criminal investigations against him.The speech sounded pathetic, especially compared to the last time Mr. Netanyahu promised prime-time drama. In April, he presented a cache of documents obtained in a Mossad raid of secret archives in Iran. The documents proved the Tehran regime had been lying about its nuclear intentions for years. His announcement bolstered the case for American withdrawal from the nuclear deal, and the findings will influence the Iran debate for years to come.But that was statesman Netanyahu. Bibi, meanwhile, plays base politics and increasingly stumbles.Shortly after calling an early election last month (Israeli governing coalitions almost never complete their allotted four-year terms), Mr. Netanyahu popped up in Brazil, basking in adoration and high-fiving his new best friend, President Jair Bolsonaro.In Brasilia, Mr. Netanyahu gained new allies for the Jewish state in one of the world’s most unexpected places. Yet even there, Bibi gathered Israeli reporters to express his confidence that all those graft cases piling up against him will amount to “nothing” (a word that has become something of a mantra for Bibi).As Mr. Netanyahu ends a fourth term in the premiership, the second longest stretch in Israel’s history, African, Asian, and Latin-American leaders stand in line to ally with his Israel. Chinese firms invest. And though Moscow and Jerusalem have opposing regional interests, Russia is careful to maintain close relations.The Arab world is warming up, too. Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, boasts on “60 Minutes” about his security cooperation with Israel. An Iraqi delegation is visiting Israel this week. Oman, Bahrain, and other Persian Gulf countries publicly support Jewish Israel’s existence, breaking previous taboos in Arab discourse. The Wall Street Journal’s astute Saudi watcher, Karen Elliott House, predicts that Mr. Netanyahu may soon visit Riyadh.American-Israeli relations are also enjoying a renaissance. National Security Adviser John Bolton walked back some of President Trump’s Syria retreat, reassuring Jerusalem. During a Sunday press conference with Mr. Bolton, Mr. Netanyahu called on America to recognize Israel’s 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights, as Damascus and its benefactor Iran gear up to launch attacks against Israel.Warnings of a “tsunami” of isolation and ostracism aimed at the Jewish state never materialized. Mr. Netanyahu’s Israel thrives diplomatically. The economy is roaring. Rare among Israeli premiers, Mr. Netanyahu hasn’t presided over major wars.No wonder Mr. Netanyahu’s party is ahead of all others. Polls project that Likud will capture 30 of the Knesset’s 120 seats. Yet small-ball, hustling Bibi can often get statesman Mr. Netanyahu into trouble.That Bibi has long been the bane of the elites, the press and the left. But voters also tire of his personal shortcomings. Bibi stabs allies in the back, smokes expensive cigars (allegedly paid for by influence seekers) and sips French champagne. Detractors portray his wife, Sara, as a vulgar manipulator and his grown-up son, Yair, as a boorish, spoiled kid.Bibi’s Monday speech was designed to stop Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit — who is mulling police recommendations to indict him — from acting before the election. Bibi said he is “4,000 percent” sure he would be vindicated.Yet The Jerusalem Post’s David Brinn warns that the “walls are closing in” on Bibi. Mr. Brinn urges Bibi to leave politics on a high note, making a deal with Mr. Mandelblit that would seal statesman Mr. Netanyahu’s legacy in return for dropping all charges. No one, he writes, wants an ignominious repeat of the jailing of an Israeli leader, as happened with a former prime minister, Ehud Olmert, and a former president, Moshe Katsav.Mr. Netanyahu has been good for the country, but Bibi has been in power too long. There’s a reason America and many other democracies set term limits on their top leaders.Tactician Bibi bets his supporters will stick by him if — and perhaps even especially if — he is indicted. He may be right, but even if the grand strategist manages to be re-elected, his nemesis, the small-time vindictive politician, may drag him down in shame.________This column first appeared in the New York Post.

In Israel Vote It’s Netanyahu vs. Alter Ego Bibi

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