Netanyahu Recruits Trump, Putin for Election

(Bloomberg) --

Benjamin Netanyahu is a man in a hurry. The Israeli prime minister faces a corruption trial and a third parliamentary election in less than a year that he hopes will put off his legal Judgment Day.

Securing extra support after two tight and inconclusive polls is of the essence. The U.S. and Russia looked to be obliging this week.

A beaming Netanyahu stood next to Donald Trump in Washington as the U.S. president laid out a Middle East peace plan that heavily favors Israel. He then traveled to Moscow where President Vladimir Putin gifted him the release from prison of Israeli-American backpacker Naama Issachar, having previously snubbed multiple pleas to pardon her on drug-smuggling charges.

So far, though, polls aren’t showing the back-to-back diplomatic coups helping Netanyahu all that much.

He had barely left the stage with Trump when he announced his cabinet would vote on Sunday to annex West Bank land on which Jewish settlements stand. But then an aide said technical issues would delay that vote, and senior White House official Jared Kushner urged Israel not to act until after its March 2 election.

While Netanyahu’s Likud party got a boost in opinion polls, so did its main rival, former military chief Benny Gantz’s Blue and White. Both gained by cannibalizing votes from potential allies and neither has an easy path to forming a government.

If an Israel-tilted U.S. peace plan and the freeing of Issachar, whose fate became a cause celebre at home, can’t get Netanyahu over the line, then what would?

Global Headlines

Virus spreads | China said more than 7,700 people have been infected by the deadly novel coronavirus, as the World Health Organization’s Emergency Committee meets today to consider issuing a global alarm. Airlines are suspending more flights to China while the U.S., U.K., and other countries moved to evacuate their citizens from the outbreak’s epicenter in Wuhan.

• Fears the virus is spreading quickly present a conundrum for other nations: How to protect public safety without stigmatizing China’s entire population?

Impeachment sparring | Former National Security Advisor John Bolton wants the White House to expedite the classification review of the Ukraine portion of his book in case he’s called to testify in Trump’s Senate impeachment trial. The president and his defense team are trying to discredit Bolton after reports said his draft alleges Trump told him he wanted military aid to Ukraine withheld unless Kyiv probed his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.

• Democrats’ chances of getting Bolton and others to testify are dwindling as the pool of Republicans willing to potentially defy Trump shrinks.

Conservative curse | Ever since Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher made the case for the U.K. joining the European Union’s forerunner, the Conservative Party has been bedeviled by internal rifts over its relations with the continent. Boris Johnson will hope his delivery of Brexit puts an end to that. But as Robert Hutton reports, history suggests the Conservatives have a seemingly limitless appetite to argue about Europe.

Shattered dreams | Wish Town was once a sought-after destination for India’s aspiring middle classes seeking a slice of the “good days” promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Now its unfinished apartments are a symbol of an economy in distress, with consumers too worried about job cuts and rising costs to spend. India’s slumping consumption is so severe it’s denting global growth. It’s unclear whether Saturday’s budget can turn the country’s fortunes around.

• A lone shooter opened fired at a prominent site of protests against the contentious religion-based citizenship law in New Delhi, wounding one person today.

Health horror | A fire during an operation on a woman who later died in one of Romania’s top hospitals is fueling anger in a nation that spends less on health care than any other EU state. Compounded by widespread graft, the situation resonates beyond the country’s borders: As many as 5 million Romanians now live elsewhere, stoking populism — as in the case of Brexit — and leaving uncertain economic prospects back home.

What to Watch

• Trump ally Senator Lindsey Graham is targeting giant internet platforms with a proposed child protection measure that could threaten encrypted services such as Apple’s iCloud and Facebook’s WhatsApp chat.
• A group of citizens in the Democratic Republic of Congo are asking the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office to recognize them as victims in its investigation of alleged corruption by Kazakh mining company Eurasian Natural Resources.
• Chile’s congress approved a tax bill presented by President Sebastian Pinera’s government to raise as much as $2.2 billion to fund its social agenda and ease months of unrest. It now goes to the Constitutional Court.

Tell us how we’re doing or what we’re missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.

And finally...Corrupt officials, soaring temperatures and prowling lions are among challenges facing truck drivers like Nyoni Nsukuzimbi that stymie attempts to boost intra-African trade. The continent’s leaders say they’re acting to change all that by signing up to an agreement that would establish the world’s biggest free-trade zone by area. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called it a “game-changer.” It will have to be if Africa’s economies are ever going to achieve their potential.

--With assistance from Alan Crawford, Michael Winfrey, Ruth Pollard, Rosalind Mathieson and Karen Leigh.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Halpin at thalpin5@bloomberg.net, Karl Maier

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