Netanyahu Runs Out of Magic Tricks
Netanyahu Runs Out of Magic Tricks
(Bloomberg) --
Benjamin Netanyahu is known as “The Magician,” able to turn unfavorable situations to his advantage. But Israel’s prime minister has come up empty this time.
After his election win last month, Netanyahu was expected to bring quarreling partners to heel as the deadline approached to form a government – as he had before. Instead, a deal eluded him, as two parties that had joined previous coalitions couldn’t agree on the issue of drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish men into the army.
Rather than make way for a rival, Netanyahu opted for fresh elections in September. It’s a risky gambit for a man who faces potential indictment for bribery unless he can convince the attorney general, in an early-October hearing, to drop the case.
While early polls suggest another Netanyahu victory, his recent attempts to arrange legal immunity for himself may cost him votes. And if he prevails, there’s no guarantee he’d have better luck in forming a government, even as he seeks to merge smaller right-wing parties into his Likud.
The man who will soon become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister may rue his failure to get this month’s coalition talks past the finish line. Netanyahu surely knows that elections are like war: You know how they start, but you can never be sure how they’ll end.
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What to Watch
-- German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers the commencement speech today at Harvard. Click here for an in-the-room look at how Merkel's rapport with Trump has broken down.
-- U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plan a joint press conference following meetings today in Ottawa as they discuss efforts to ratify the new Nafta.
-- The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to release its quarterly inspection report on Iran in the coming days. All eyes will be on whether Tehran has exceeded the agreed limits on enriched uranium in the 2015 deal on its nuclear program.
And finally... Republicans in George W. Bush’s era had “Freedom Fries.” In Trump’s, they have “Freedom Gas.” Under Secretary of Energy Mark W. Menezes yesterday described liquefied natural gas as akin to a foreign policy tool, in a statement announcing the approval of exports from the Freeport facility in Texas. Such exports, he said, would give “America’s allies a diverse and affordable source of clean energy.”
--With assistance from Kathleen Hunter and Karl Maier.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rosalind Mathieson at rmathieson3@bloomberg.net, Anthony Halpin
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